Overdose Crisis Archives

Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo

November 11, 2025 Narcotica 1:29:09 0 Comments

As we’ve said hundreds of times on Narcotica, the drug war is a war on people used to advance some of the worst atrocities in history. Drugs are the perfectly legible boogeyman to the public, used as a justification used to advance racist, draconian policy. From CIA planes that deliver ecocide to rain forests in Colombia to the millions of incarcerated people caged in the United States to empowering violent gang wars to the systems that have led to 1 million preventable deaths and counting from drug overdoses over the last two decades.

But something new is happening. The drug war is intensifying in unprecedented fashion, in a manner that makes the DEA kicking down doors and doing no-knock raids sound quaint. The United States military is on a spree of blowing up suspected narcoterrorists and their vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific near Venezuela and Colombia. These boats are allegedly filled with drugs headed to the shores of North America, despite zero evidence suggesting these are actually drug operations. If that’s not enough, grainy footage of boats being shredded is being posted online by the Pentagon. Brazenly bragging about war crimes and extrajudicial killings. Today we’re going to dive into what the heck is actually going on.

Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Ioan Grillo a journalist from the UK who has been living in Mexico since 2000, he is author of three books, most recently “Blood Gun Money: How America Arms Gangs and Cartels.”

Read Ioan Grillo’s reporting at his website crashoutmedia.com

Clarification: Troy mentions a lack of public outcry from the international community, which has definitely become more prevalent after the interview was done. There are more details in his commentary for Salon: “Donald Trump doesn’t understand the drug war he’s fighting”

**Pardon our dust on this episode, it was produced as quickly as possible and recorded on Oct. 28, 2025, so some info may be already outdated.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala
Episode 11: Beyond Borders — How the U.S. Exports Dangerous Drug Policy with Sanho Tree
Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 / Algorithms by Chad Crouch
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Wikimedia Commons

Episode 92: The Drug War’s Invisible Casualties with Sheila Vakharia

August 28, 2025 Narcotica 1:06:08 0 Comments

Overdose deaths are the go-to metric for how well drug policy is performing, but those on the ground know that harms from the drug war can include much more than the worst outcomes. As harm reduction policies get swept up in escalating authoritarian attacks on democracy, it’s becoming even more vital for those who value bodily autonomy to stand up for justice, backed up by rigorous science and data.

On this episode, Narcotica co-hosts Aaron Ferguson, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah speak with Sheila Vakharia, a harm reductionist, researcher, social worker and the Deputy Director of Research and Academic Engagement at the Drug Policy Alliance. She is author of “The Harm Reduction Gap,” which can be purchased here, along with other books in Narcotica’s reading library.

Resources mentioned in the episode:

Nonfatal overdose data – DOSE dashboard

Matt Bonn’s webinar on brain injury after nonfatal overdose

Measure 110 research and resources:

The nonpartisan research institute RTI hosted a one-day symposium in January 2024. The panels summarized all of the research on Measure 110, including the voices of people who use drugs and service providers. Recordings and slide decks were included.
A dashboard of the Behavioral Health Resource Networks across the state of Oregon, including information about the various services made available, which services were provided, and to whom.
DPA made some fact sheets:
- Oregon’s Measure 110: What Really Happened
- The False Promises of Oregon’s Recriminalization

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 61: Undoing Drugs—Harm Reduction’s Early History with Maia Szalavitz
Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart
Episode 20: The Pitfalls of Mainstream Harm Reduction with Eliza Wheeler

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: via Pixabay

Episode 91: Drug Surveillance Won’t Stop at Opioids with Liz Chiarello

May 25, 2025 Narcotica 0:55:15 0 Comments

Opioids are some of the best drugs ever invented. News flash! But that’s not something you’ll hear from the mainstream media anymore. No, the official message is that opioids are only problematic and even in the instances where they are prescribed by doctors, there’s this baggage, this stigma and shame attached to it. And no, recognizing the value of these drugs doesn’t make you a big pharma shill, in spite of drug companies that have exploited and yes, in some cases overprescribed these substances — but that’s a critique of capitalism, not chemicals that happen to mercifully act on our opioid receptors.

Of course, no one really outright says we need to ban all opioids. But in effect, that’s what we’re doing, banning them. Prescriptions of opioids have dropped significantly in the past decade, falling by 51.7% over 11 years, from 260.5 million in 2012 to 125.9 million in 2023. That hasn’t resulted in a significant drop in overdose deaths. Instead, the current climate, and attacks from the DEA has left many doctors now afraid to prescribe these drugs, even when necessary. And the rash of stigma against people who use opioids, licit or illicit, has not done anything to actually stop drug use. But these policies and attitudes do have an impact. Who has that harmed the most? Patients who need them.

On this episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Liz Chiarello, an Associate Professor of Sociology at Saint Louis University where she conducts research at the intersection of healthcare and law. Her research centers on how cultural forces such as law, politics, and organizational policy influence decision-making in healthcare and the criminal-legal system. She is author of the recent book “Policing Patients: Treatment and Surveillance on the Frontlines of the Opioid Crisis.”

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo
Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar
Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

Episode 90: Navigating Shifting Chemical Landscapes with Claire Zagorski

March 1, 2025 Narcotica 1:10:53 0 Comments

The endless whac-a-mole of the drug war, banning one chemical as soon as three more become popular, can never be won. That just isn’t how chemistry or human nature works. But that hasn’t stopped profiteers and special interest groups from pushing the same old strategies, none of which has resulted in significantly lowering overdose deaths or making communities healthier.

It has, however, resulted in strange new drugs arriving on the street, which means harm reduction has had to evolve and respond every time something new comes along. How do we navigate all this change? By following the same principles harm reduction was founded on in the first place: meeting people where they are and reminding them their health matters.

On this episode, Narcotica cohosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Claire Zagorski, MSc, LP, a licensed paramedic, and a graduate research assistant and PhD student in translational science at The University of Texas at Austin. She studies illicit drug supply contamination and composition, and drug checking implementation.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 74: Cannabis And Capitalism — Preventing Another Big Tobacco with Shaleen Title
Episode 47: Can Harm Reduction and Cops Coexist?
Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran

90: Navigating Shifting Chemical Landscapes with Claire Zagorski

Episode 89: Can Good Drug Policy Survive 2025?

January 9, 2025 Narcotica 0:45:01 0 Comments

Last year was a crazy time for drug policy and 2025 is looking to up the ante on the chaos. Narcotica hosts Chris Moraff, Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah reflect on what went wrong, what can be done and what to hope for, even in the midst of an escalating crisis.

They discuss the recent counts in overdose deaths, how fentanyl is changing (and even disappearing in some cases) while xylazine, medetomidine and other drugs are making their way into dope bags. Of course, everyone is concerned with how the incoming administration will handle things, including their bloodthirst for war with Mexico and a crackdown on harm reduction. But there are also plenty of reasons to hope — and keep fighting.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 50: Sicarios and Supply Side Economics with Stewart Scott
Episode 34: “Inside the Bloody War on Drugs” with Antony Lowenstein
Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

Episode 88: Helping Harm Reduction Flourish with Joy Rucker

September 26, 2024 Narcotica 0:54:58 0 Comments

Harm reduction means so many different things to so many different people, and some have even grown weary of the way the term has now been weaponized. How do we get back to the true core of helping people? Maybe by returning to the roots of the harm reduction movement to understand why these practices evolved in the first place.

On this episode, Narcotica co-hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Joy Rucker, co-founder of the Black Harm Reduction Network (BHRN), and also a National Harm Reduction Consultant and Founder of the Texas Harm Reduction Alliance. Joy has served people with HIV, substance use, mental health and unhoused issues for over 30 years. Her story is one of strength and adaptability, responding with compassion in the face of discrimination, stigma and attacks on public health.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:

Episode 70: How Testosterone Bans Criminalize the Body with Adryan Corcione
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique
Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright

We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

January 11, 2024 Narcotica 1:09:30 0 Comments

Like some kind of perverse fishing expedition, we’re all familiar with the drug warriors’ favorite form of theater: the drug bust. Every police department seems to do this, posing their officers with huge (or even tiny, inconsequential) bags of drugs, stacks of cash and sometimes a cache of weapons, propping everything up as if it’s the prize that will finally win this futile, violent campaign.

It’s been clear for decades that drug busts don’t stop the flow of drugs (or even make a dent), but amongst certain people, it is also common knowledge that these busts actually worsen drug overdoses. In other words, taking drugs off the street can increase ER visits, cause more fatalities and just generally make underground drug markets less safe.

Now, thanks to research last year in the American Journal of Public Health, we have some pretty damning evidence of this relationship. Narcotica co-hosts Chris Moraff and Troy Farah spoke with the study authors, Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo about their research, its policy implications, but also how this study fits into the broader picture of safe supply, how most cops resent being part of the drug war and

You can read the paper titled “Spatiotemporal Analysis Exploring the Effect of Law Enforcement Drug Market Disruptions on Overdose, Indianapolis, Indiana, 2020–2021 ” here: https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2023.307291 Salon was one of many publications that covered this study if you’d like to read more.

(This episode was done over the summer, hence mention of DULF still being a thing… It’s taken us way too long to get new episodes out lately, but 2024 should be different.)

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis
Episode 44: Reimagining Public Health and Racial Justice with Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal
Episode 12: Beyond Borders — “El Chapo” and the Mexican Fentanyl Pipeline with Keegan Hamilton

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Image via Coast Guard News // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 83: The Parents Who Oppose The War on Drugs with Tamara Olt and Gretchen Bergman

June 14, 2023 Narcotica 1:19:30 0 Comments

The War on (People who Use) Drugs has claimed over a million victims in the last two decades, every fatal overdose representing deep policy failures that attempt in vain to control normal human behavior: self-medicating and inducing euphoria.

None of this wonky policy bullshit matters much when you’re the parent of a child who dies from an overdose.

Few things in life are as devastating as losing your kid. It stirs up some of the deepest, darkest emotions humans are capable of and when drugs are involved, that typically turns into a thirst for retribution. That can mean demanding stricter penalties for drug use, like so-called drug homicide laws, or calls for increased police surveillance. But we have over a century of data proving that prohibition doesn’t work. More cops, more draconian drug laws — it all just backfires. We have more police, more prisons and yet more drug overdose deaths than ever before. That’s why it’s such a breath of fresh air when parents whose children struggle with drug use or addiction advocate for harm reduction and sensible drug policy.

Narcotica co-host Troy Farah spoke with Gretchen Burns Bergman, whose two grown sons who are in long-term recovery from heroin addiction, and Tamara Olt, M.D., who lost her 16-year-old son Joshua to an accidental heroin overdose in 2012. Both strongly advocate for a more rational approach to how we treat substance use in the U.S. They discuss everything from safe supply, to the myths of “tough love” and “enabling” to buprenorphine access to the ridiculous (but trending) idea that fentanyl is a weapon of mass destruction.

This interview, which was conducted last November, was also featured in Salon.

Read Tamara’s essay in Elle here: https://www.elle.com/culture/career-politics/a29036663/syringe-exchange-grief-recovery/

Lear more about GRASP (Grief Recovery After Substance Passing) here: https://grasphelp.org/

Learn more about A New PATH (Parents for Addiction Treatment and Healing), a non-profit organization that works to reduce the stigma associated with substance use disorders through education and compassionate support at https://www.anewpath.org/

Learn more about Moms United at: https://www.momsunited.net/

Also, Narcomedia is excited to announce a new project, all from the perspective of people who use drugs: Naturally Noncompliant is a new podcast all about people who use methadone. Listen to the first episode here or on iTunes or Spotify: https://rephonic.com/podcasts/naturally-noncompliant

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 62: Policing Pleasure — The Intersection of Sex Work and Drug Use with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon
Episode 56: Drug Use During Disaster with Aaron Ferguson
Episode 67: Methadone in the Time of Covid with Danielle Russell

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!
Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Image via The Noun Project // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 68: Is The Drug War Getting Better… Or Worse? with Zach Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah

March 3, 2022 Narcotica 01:10:13 0 Comments

On this episode, Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah interview each other, riffing on one question: Is the drug war getting better… Or worse? They cover everything from nitazenes, Dopesick, the Drug User’s Liberation Front, banning psychedelics like DiPT, benzo dope, West Virginia, buprenorphine, psychedelic exceptionalism, drug testing, crack pipes, supervised consumption sites in NYC and much, much, more.

Their conclusion? You’ll have to listen to find out. OK, not really: Like many things, it’s a mix of both progress and backsliding. Narcotica’s founders discuss their current frustrations and what’s giving them optimism in America’s longest running war, a conflict directed at people. Maybe the end is in sight after all.

Follow Chris Moraff on Twitter: @moraffreports
Follow Zach Siegel on Twitter: @ZachWritesStuff
Follow Troy Farah on Twitter: @filth_filler

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 27: What’s the Most Dangerous Drug?
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique
Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart

Follow Narcotica on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and support us on Patreon. Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us! Rate us! And thanks for your support!

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Garrett Farah / Troy Farah
Music: Glass Boy / Holly Mangler
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Noun Project // edit: Troy Farah

Episode 67: Methadone in the Time of Covid with Danielle Russell

February 8, 2022 Narcotica 00:58:10 0 Comments

Harm reduction programs like syringe access, supervised consumption or even just handing out condoms on the street, can be some of the only access to healthcare some people encounter. Definitely not all, but some people who use drugs routinely shun going to the doctor—not because they don’t care about their health, but because our for-profit healthcare system treats almost everyone who uses an illicit substance like complete shit. And people who use drugs have been treated like pariahs long before the covid pandemic, but things got way worse once the virus came to town.

Previously on Narcotica, co-host Chris Moraff did an episode all about how doctors need to work harder to rebuild the patient-trust relationship. And many medical professionals are doing that work, which makes such a huge difference. It’s hard to understate how valuable it can be to receive nonjudgmental medical care that doesn’t hinge on absolute abstinence.

That episode, number 65, which we encourage you to listen to after this one, came from the perspective of two amazing doctors, Ashish Thakrar and Ben Cocchiario. However, on this episode, we want to talk to someone from the other side of the aisle to get a different viewpoint from someone with lived experience in this area.

Why would you go to a healthcare provider for an infection or injury if you’re going to be lectured about your drug use, even if it has nothing to do with why you’re there? Or you might be forced to hand over your urine or have your possessions rifled through by a nurse. Even for people that don’t use illegal substances, our healthcare system is a nightmare to try and navigate. It only gets worse if you happen to self-medicate or enjoy chemicals that aren’t sanctioned by the FDA.

Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Danielle Russell of Phoenix, Arizona, who is currently a justice and social inquiry PhD student at Arizona State University. She studies how the criminalization of substances used for personal pleasure has become a key issue and tool for social control, contributing to the ongoing legacy of racialized criminalization and mass incarceration in the U.S. Having personally experienced many of the harms that impact people who use illicit drugs, she is passionate about mutual aid and working to change the structures that impose harms on the bodies of drug users. Her research interests are oriented towards community-based participatory research.

Follow Danielle on Twitter @DopefiendPhD and you can read the study she co-authored here:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33461838/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar
Episode 48: Moms And Methadone with Elizabeth Brico
Episode 56: Drug Use During Disaster with Aaron Ferguson

Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar

November 19, 2021 Narcotica 01:05:20 0 Comments

Over the past two decades, as fatal drug overdoses have risen precipitously, few professions have been hit harder by the crisis than the medical community. Physicians in particular have found themselves in the no-win position of being both blamed for the overdose crisis, which claimed more than 100,000 American lives in the past 12 months, while being tasked with containing it.

According to one dominant narrative, it was cavalier doctors who sparked the crisis in the first place, by overprescribing habit forming narcotic painkillers to millions of Americans after being softened up at lavish dinners and then duped by nefarious pharmaceutical reps using fudged data.

But that’s overly simplistic. For starters, it ignores the fact that the greatest spike in drug deaths came when doctors reigned in opioid prescribing after authorities started targeting so-called pill mills. This left tens of thousands of pain patients stranded and paved the way for the introduction of illicitly made fentanyl into the U.S. to fill unmet demands.

Narcotica co-host Christopher Moraff delves into this topic, asking how the medical community can work to restore trust from their patients who are justifiably suspicious of the U.S. healthcare system, speaking with doctors Ashish Thakrar and Ben Cocchiario, who both work for the University of Pennsylvania medical system in Philadelphia, a focal point of the overdose crisis. They cover everything from methadone prescribing to overfunding the DEA, all of it underlining the importance of patient autonomy.

Follow Ben Cocchiaro at UPenn
Follow Ashish Thakrar on Twitter @especially_APT

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 46: Behind The Pharmacists’ Counter with Jessica Moreno
Episode 36: Moral Hazards and Naloxone, A Toxicologist’s Perspective
Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Stockvault // edit: Troy Farah

	Legion on Episode 77: Harm Production —…
	Legion on Episode 75: Copaganda — The Fa…
	tfarah on Episode 71: Aduhelm, Obscene D…
	Mazdyn Miller on Episode 71: Aduhelm, Obscene D…
	Stephen Clarke on Episode 64: LSD And Psilocybin…

Overdose Crisis

Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo

Episode 92: The Drug War’s Invisible Casualties with Sheila Vakharia

Episode 91: Drug Surveillance Won’t Stop at Opioids with Liz Chiarello

Episode 90: Navigating Shifting Chemical Landscapes with Claire Zagorski

Episode 89: Can Good Drug Policy Survive 2025?

Episode 88: Helping Harm Reduction Flourish with Joy Rucker

Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

Episode 83: The Parents Who Oppose The War on Drugs with Tamara Olt and Gretchen Bergman

Episode 68: Is The Drug War Getting Better… Or Worse? with Zach Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah

Episode 67: Methadone in the Time of Covid with Danielle Russell

Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar

Recent Posts

Search

Recent Comments

Archives

Categories

Meta