mexico

Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala

February 8, 2024 Narcotica Criminal Justice, Episodes 1:09:41 0 Comments

If you only get your international drug policy history from Netflix, you might think that the drug traffickers in Mexico are a smart, coordinated system of violent sociopaths that control the government. They are cartels. Therefore they have leadership, and hierarchies and tangible targets that can be taken out just like in a Call of Duty game.

This rhetoric has driven us to where we are today, with talks of labeling fentanyl a weapon of mass destruction — as ludicrous a label anyone could generate for such a thing — and serious conversation by right wing lunatics who are suggesting invading Mexico to assassinate every drug cartel member. Because that will work sooo well, like every other U.S. intervention over the last 50 to 100 years.

It’s a pivotal time in drug policy in North America. All the progress we’ve made seems ready to unravel, with perhaps the exception of cannabis legalization. Harm reduction and safe supply is heavily under attack in Canada, policies like drug decriminalization in Oregon were starved of funding, as if they were designed to fail and now we have all this talk about making things worse by intensifying the violence south of the border — not that it was ever exactly peaceful. How do we respond to such terrifying policy proposals?

On this episode of Narcotica, co-host Troy Farah interviews journalist Oswaldo Zavala, a professor of Latin American Literature and Culture at the City University of New York and author of the book Los cárteles no existen — Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Drug Trafficking and Culture in Mexico.

Follow Oswaldo on Twitter @Oswaldo__Zavala and visit his university profile here: https://www.csi.cuny.edu/campus-directory/oswaldo-zavala

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 56: Drug Use During Disaster with Aaron Ferguson

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Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Image via DEA // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 50: Sicarios and Supply Side Economics with Scott Stewart

January 25, 2021 Narcotica Episodes 1:01:36 0 Comments

On this episode, we discuss how Mexico became a flashpoint of the war on drugs, broader trends in American foreign policy and drug policy, as well as the evolution of synthetic drugs as the main category of illicit narcotics. Our guest is Scott Stewart, a security analyst who for years penned one of the best annual assessments of Mexico’s evolving cartels for Stratfor and has since transitioned to Torchstone Global, a private security consulting firm. 

Scott has worked in the trenches of intelligence and security for 35 years and began his career in army reserve and National Guard intelligence before spending 10 years as a special agent with the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. 

During the height of the drug war’s surge under Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, Scott was assigned to protect a Colombian judge who had signed an arrest warrant for Pablo Escobar. In 1993 he traveled to Bogota to help the Colombian government investigate a car bombing at a school supply market.

You can follow Scott on Twitter @stick631 and learn more at torchstoneglobal.com

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 11: Beyond Borders — How the U.S. Exports Dangerous Drug Policy
Episode 31: Supervised Consumption: Narcotica Breaks Down Safehouse Ruling with Av Gutman
Episode 34: “Inside the Bloody War on Drugs”

Follow Narcotica on Facebook, Twitter and support us on Patreon. Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us!

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Garrett Farah
Music: Glass Boy / Chandiliers
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: Pixabay // edit: Troy Farah

Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin

July 8, 2020 Narcotica Episodes 01:03:53 0 Comments

When Morgan Godvin was 24, she sold her best friend Justin a gram of heroin. This wasn’t out of the ordinary. Both of them often used together and hooking each other up was essentially seen as a favor, to keep one another from experiencing withdrawal sickness. 

But this one time proved to be fatal. Justin would later be found dead from an overdose, and Morgan was on the hook for supplying it, getting caught up in the wave of drug-induced homicide cases where prosecutors go after users, who are often friends and loved ones of the victim. Morgan was convicted of “drug delivery resulting in death” by the federal government and spent 5 years incarcerated at the Dublin Federal Prison outside of Oakland for Justin’s death. Since she’s been released, Morgan has used her experience and voice to push back against America’s ultra-punitive response to everyday social problems like addiction, including raising awareness about drug-induced homicide prosecutions.

In this episode, Narcotics co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah talk with Morgan about everything from syringe access in Tijuana to solitary confinement to being queer and using drugs in prison. But overall, this conversation centers on drug-induced homicides and the way these draconian laws are inflicted on people.

Follow Morgan on Twitter @MorganGodvin

You can read Morgan’s piece “Money Changed Everything For Me In Prison” in The Marshall Project.

Learn more about drug-induced homicide laws at the Health In Justice Lab’s portal.

Follow Narcotica on Facebook, Twitter and support us on Patreon. Your support is appreciated! We’re on Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Stitcher and more. Tell your friends about us!

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel
Co-producer: Garrett Farah
Music: Glass Boy
Image: Pixabay // edit: Troy Farah