narcotica podcast 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dust on this episode, it was produced as quickly as possible and recorded on Oct. 28, 2025, so some info may be already outdated.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 94: The AI Dystopia Acid Test with Douglas Rushkoff

October 21, 2025 Narcotica 1:09:10 0 Comments

The internet and drugs are deeply intertwined in a way that isn’t glib or always obvious. Being online is a deeply conscious experience that can change your perception and yeah, be pretty habit-forming. The slow dopamine drip of doom scrolling isn’t a 1-to-1 analog to doing a line of meth, of course. But it’s worth noting that both the internet and drugs are just technology.

But now the modern internet is often a dark place controlled by billionaires intent on destroying free speech, ramping up mass surveillance and massacring the environment, all while selling us this idea that psychedelics are somehow the answer to all this. As technofascism embeds itself deeper into our world, both digital and physical, what the hell do we do about it?

This episode of Narcotica is a little unusual in that it’s about tech and culture a bit more so than drugs, though there’s plenty of that. Troy Farah interviews Douglas Rushkoff, an author of some 20 books, a mass media theorist, and so much more. He also hosts a podcast called Team Human. His most recent book, “Survival of the Richest,” is about how billionaires are planning for societal collapse at the expense of regular people.

Learn more about Douglas at his website and watch his SXSW presentation here—but after you listen to this one! :p

Purchase “Survival of the Richest” and browse other books in Narcotica’s reading library.

That Rolling Stone article Troy mentioned is here.

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 35: Holding Space — The Values of Trip Sitting with Michelle Janikian
Episode 64: LSD And Psilocybin For Physical Pain? with Greg McKee and Dr. Johannes Ramaekers
Episode 9: Speed Up, Slow Down Pt. 3 — The Cocaine Fentanyl Blues

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 / Organisms by Chad Crouch
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: ArtGrafx / Flickr

Episode 93: Veterans’ Harm Reduction Battle with Beth Dinges

September 27, 2025 Narcotica 0:50:26 0 Comments

Despite all the nationalism in our country, veterans are too often seen as expendable. Drug use in the military is as common as any other aspect of society, obviously, but increased stigma and consequences pushes most to the shadows. Harm reduction for veterans is especially vital and luckily, the Department of Veterans Affairs is starting to finally recognize this, but there’s a lot of work to be done.

On this episode, Narcotica hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Beth Dinges, a clinical pharmacist who’s been caring for Veterans for over 20 years. She’s the Harm Reduction Coordinator at the VA and helped launch VA’s first syringe program in 2017. She works directly with Veterans, prescribing medications for SUD and to treat Hepatitis and prevent HIV.

Resources:
• Expanding Harm Reduction Services and Implementation of Syringe Services Programs within Veterans Health Administration
• Harm Reduction Veteran Engagement Board

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 44: Reimagining Public Health and Racial Justice with Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal
Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

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 87: Drug Testing Equals Empowerment with Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta and Charlton Roverson

July 31, 2024 Narcotica 1:06:30 0 Comments

On today’s episode, we’re going to talk about drug testing but not the tedious ways in which you should (probably) do it. There are plenty of great guides out there which we’ll link to one or two in the show notes. Instead, we’re going to discuss how drug testing equals empowerment. It’s more than just knowing what you may or may not be taking. It’s about stepping in where the government has failed and finding autonomy.

Narcotica co-hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah spoke with Charlton Roverson, the Eastern Regional Coordinator with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition in Fayetteville and Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, a pharmaco-epidemiologist and scientist at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who helps run the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab. More info at https://www.streetsafe.supply/

Here are some drug testing guides:

Bunk Police: https://bunkpolice.com/

Reagent testing instructions from DanceSafe: https://dancesafe.org/testing-kit-instructions/

CDC guide to fentanyl test strips: https://www.cdc.gov/stop-overdose/safety/index.html

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 55: Street Sampling Synthetics, from Carfentanil to Xylazine with Alex Krotulski
Episode 82: Drug War Activism and the Future of Harm Reduction with Louise Vincent
Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo

Episode 86: Why Naloxone Still Matters with Nancy D. Campbell

April 28, 2024 Narcotica 1:15:04 0 Comments

Naloxone is a miracle drug. Calling any drug a miracle can be problematic, but admittedly there are a few of them, in my opinion: penicillin, insulin, mifepristone and misoprostol, thorazine, viagra (cough, cough) and yes, naloxone. I think it qualifies as a miracle drug, something that works so well it is astonishing.

So many people fought so hard and for so long to have access to naloxone. It wasn’t always so available like it is in some places today. But the way that we are treating opioid overdose antagonists is changing. Many companies have price-gouged their way into profiting and exploiting a vulnerable population. They are bringing in naloxone analogs that they claim are more effective, without much evidence, but they do have serious side effects. And because the drug supply is only getting more and more unpredictable, with many non opioids entering the mix like xylazine and benzo analogs, naloxone may not help with overdoses of this kind. How can we navigate this shifting landscape?

Narcotica co-hosts Chris Moraff and Troy Farah speak with Nancy D. Campbell, author of the books Discovering Addiction and OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose. She is a historian of science who studies addiction research and treatment at RPI, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, including at the U.S Narcotic Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Learn more about Nancy D. Campbell here.

Read “OD: Naloxone and the Politics of Overdose” here: https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/12054.001.0001

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 36: Moral Hazards and Naloxone, A Toxicologist’s Perspective with Ryan Marino
Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar
Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran

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

February 8, 2024 Narcotica 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

We’re aware we haven’t put out many episodes in 2023, but Narcotica is not dead and we have no intention of retiring this important program. Like NPR and other podcasts, we are an independent, listener-supported program. We couldn’t do this without you. That sounds like hyperbole, that sounds like something every podcast says, but it’s 100 percent true and we are deeply grateful for all of you. Thank you.

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 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

February 2, 2023 Narcotica 01:15:43 0 Comments

Harm reduction is an imperfect philosophy that serves as the only wedge between prohibition and what we all really want, which is a healthy, productive society. If more police and prisons could make drugs safer, we’d have a lot less overdose deaths and problematic addiction. But that’s not what’s happening. Drugs are more available than ever, while overdose deaths continue to shatter records. If this is a war, we lost long ago. (Of course, as we repeatedly emphasize on this show, not all drug use is addiction and in fact, most of it isn’t.)

Instead we have the prison-industrial complex. We have cops and judges that take on the role of doctors. We have a system that is designed to oppress, marginalize and criminalize rational human behavior. Yet, harm reduction in prisons — arguably the one place where it is needed most — is almost completely absent.

On today’s episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah spoke to someone who is sadly, currently behind bars. Because of that, we are using their adopted pseudonym, C. Dreams. C. is a writer and advocate interested in prison and criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights, harm reduction and government and cultural criticism. She has studied history and theology with the Third Order of Carmelites and completed degrees in Systematic Theology and is currently studying law. C. has some brilliant writing being published in Filter Magazine. They talk all about drug use in prisons, from K2 to fentanyl, a positive methamphetamine story, the problems with lack of syringe access, let alone access to buprenorphine or methadone, and much much more.

Follow C. on Twitter at: @UnCagedCritique

Read C’s writing in Filter Magazine here: https://filtermag.org/author/c-dreams/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 26: Housing As Harm Reduction
Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis
Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin

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: Shannon O’Toole via Flickr // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Episode 79: Is California Really Progressive on Drugs? with Dr. Isaac Jackson

December 19, 2022 Narcotica 01:12:41 0 Comments

People have this conception that San Francisco’s streets are just overflowing with human shit and people injecting drugs in the open. Stereotypes about California being overrun with homeless encampments and open-air drug markets abound, as if these things don’t exist in other states, while politicians in Arkansas and Oklahoma, for example, warn against so-called progressive policies infecting the midwest. But how true is all this?

San Francisco in particular is associated with progressive policy, especially when it comes to drugs. From the chill vibes of Haight-Ashbury and Hippie Hill to opening Prevention Point in 1988, the Golden Gate city has long been a leader on certain drug issues. But not always.

On this episode of Narcotica, Troy Farah speaks with Dr. Isaac Jackson, a community organizer who has over a decade of experience working with drug users. He has been instrumental in starting two drug user organizations (San Francisco Drug Users Union in 2010 and the San Francisco branch of the Urban Survivors Union in 2013). As leader of the Urban Survivors Union in San Francisco, Jackson has spearheaded a crack pipe distribution program and so much more, he has a lot of interesting history to share. The conversation meanders all over the place and doesn’t really stick on California too much, but that’s the main throughline in discussing Jackson’s unique history and connection to this beautiful region of America.

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

Episode 69: The Promise and Peril of the Psychedelic Mainstream with Shelby Hartman and Madison Margolin

Episode 64: LSD And Psilocybin For Physical Pain? with Greg McKee and Dr. Johannes Ramaekers

Episode 44: Reimagining Public Health and Racial Justice with Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal

Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson

Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1

Intro voice: Jenny Schaye

Image: The Noun Project // edit: Troy Farah

Episode 77: Harm Production — The Hazards of Drug Courts with Dave Lucas

September 7, 2022 Narcotica 1:04:45 1 Comment

The United States sure loves to cage people. Incarceration statistics can be shocking, but they can be cited so often that they can lose their potency. It can seem abstract or just the way things are. But it is completely immoral that the U.S. throws more people into cages than any other country for which we have reliable data.

In order to partially address this problem, some jurisdictions have promoted the idea of drug courts, which the U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services defines as “alternative to incarceration, drug courts reduce the burden and costs of repeatedly processing low‐level, non‐violent offenders through the nation’s courts, jails, and prisons while providing offenders an opportunity to receive treatment and education.”

Sounds great, right? Well, as you’ll learn on today’s episode, drug courts come with their own set of problems, and in some ways, can make situations worse.

Narcotica co-hosts Chris Moraff and Troy Farah speak with Dave Lucas, a clinical advisor, social work educator, and therapist committed to reducing the harms of the criminal legal and substance use treatment systems. He serves as a Clinical Advisor with the Health and Justice Action Lab. They discuss drug testing, Measure 110 in Oregon, MAT in courtrooms, synthetic cannabinoids, what drug courts actually get right and much more.

Follow Dave on Twitter at: @davidewlucas

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin
Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran
Episode 14: Harm Reduction Dies in Darkness—Jeff Deeney

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
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye
Image: The Noun Project edit: Troy Farah

Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright

August 5, 2022 Narcotica 00:49:51 0 Comments

Certain celebrity authors want to help you accept that certain drug use is OK—and there’s nothing wrong with psychedelic exceptionalism, but it overlooks the biggest destructive forces of the drug war. Yet, legalizing drugs like meth, heroin and cocaine remains a hard sell for even the most progressive of drug policy reformers. So how do we cross this bridge?

Narcotica co-host Chris Moraff speaks with Veronica Wright, founder of the National Coalition for Drug Legalization. They discuss how prohibition is far worse than the drugs deemed too dangerous for public consumption, and only works to worsen health inequities and harms from drug use. However, the transition from prohibition to a future where drug use isn’t criminalized won’t be easy. Veronica shares what helped her change her mind on this issue and the future of drug use that she envisions.

Follow Veronica on Twitter at: @veronicawright8 and visit the National Coalition for Drug Legalization’s website here: https://www.nationalcoalitionfordruglegalization.org/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart
Episode 68: Is The Drug War Getting Better… Or Worse? with Zach Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique

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

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

July 25, 2022 Narcotica 00:58:01 1 Comment

No matter what the problem is, whether it’s fentanyl overdoses or mass shootings, the solution to all of our problems is always more money and bigger budgets for police, prosecutors and prisons. Funny how that works, right? If crime goes up we need police, if crime goes down it’s because of the police, so we still need more police. They can’t lose!

One of the main ways public support for police is so insidious has to do with police propaganda (e.g. copaganda) but it can be hard to detect, let alone debunk, these powerful tools of controlling public opinion. Understanding how this works is crucial to any aspect of drug policy reform and holding accountable the journalists who perpetuate copaganda is an important step in undoing the harms of police states.

On this episode of Narcotica, co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah talk with Alec Karakatsanis, the founder and executive director of Civil Rights Corps, a non-profit organization dedicated to challenging systemic injustice in the United States’ legal system–a system that is built on white supremacy and economic inequality. Alec has helped challenge the money bail system in California and is the author of the book Usual Cruelty. He is passionate about ending human caging, surveillance, police, the death penalty, immigration laws, war, and inequality, and he has made debunking copaganda into an artform.

Follow Alec on Twitter at: @equalityAlec and read his newsletter here: https://equalityalec.substack.com/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique
Episode 47: Can Harm Reduction and Cops Coexist?
Episode 62: Policing Pleasure — The Intersection of Sex Work and Drug Use with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon

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

Episode 74: Cannabis And Capitalism — Preventing Another Big Tobacco with Shaleen Title

July 13, 2022 Narcotica 00:58:43 0 Comments

For good reason, about 150 million people use cannabis, according to the World Health Organization. That’s around 3 percent of the global population or the entire population of Russia. In most places, smoking the flowers or extracts of this plant can come with some steep legal consequences: long prison sentences, heavy fines, loss of civil rights, the state may take away your kids or deny you medical care. You may even get executed.

For some of us, especially if we live in places where cannabis is legal, such dire consequences for using cannabis can seem like a distant nightmare. But even as we slowly emerge from the dark ages of marijuana prohibition, we’re encountering entirely predictable problems: unchecked capitalist greed. So yes, while it’s worth celebrating our emergence from the dark ages of cannabis prohibition, we risk entering into different forms of prohibition, oppression and inequality at the hands of the so-called “free market.”

Narcotica co-host Troy Farah talks with Shaleen Title, an Indian-American attorney and longtime drug policy activist who has been writing, passing, and implementing equitable cannabis laws for over 20 years. She is a former top regulator for the state of Massachusetts, where she served as commissioner of the Cannabis Control Commission from 2017 to 2020. She is the author of “Fair and Square: How to Effectively Incorporate Social Equity Into Cannabis Laws and Regulations” and “Bigger is Not Better: Preventing Monopolies in the National Cannabis Market.” Currently, her primary focus is running the nonprofit think tank Parabola Center, which pushes for cannabis policies to protect people rather than corporate profits.

Follow Shaleen on Twitter at: @shaleentitle

Read Bigger is Not Better: Preventing Monopolies in the National Cannabis Market

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 63: Delta-8-THC And Other Obscure Cannabinoids with Jason Wilson
Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique
Episode 53: A Life of Getting Lit with Tommy Chong

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

Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran

June 25, 2022 Narcotica 01:08:35 0 Comments

Naltrexone, also known by its brand name, Vivitrol, is an opioid antagonist that kicks opioids off of opioid receptor in the brain, not unlike naloxone. But thanks to a combination of overprescription, unscrupulous marketing practices and ubiquitous use over more effective alternatives, naltrexone is a very controversial drug. In fact, a common reaction is Oh no! Not naltrexone!

Of course, naltrexone has some benefits and many people say their life has been saved by it. And at Narcotica, we don’t believe any drug is “bad” or “evil.” So where does this substance fit into the broader scheme of things? We’ve spoken about naltrexone many times on this show, but never this indepth before.

Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah speak with Nancy Curran, a nurse practitioner who has been practicing for 5 years in an OBOT clinic in the Lowell Massachusetts area, treating both opioid and alcohol use disorders. She prescribes buprenorphine (both Suboxone and Sublocade), as well as naltrexone (Vivitrol). She also treats patients who need Hep C treatment. Nancy is passionate about advocating for and educating her patients on their medication options, as well as their rights.

They discuss the history of hallucinogenic opioids, the shrewd and quasilegal marketing practices of Alkermes, Inc., how naltrexone stacks up against buprenorphine and methadone, why stigma persists against people who take certain opioid use disorder drugs but not others, the difference between addiction and dependency, some basic opioid receptor science, and much, much more.

Follow Nancy on Twitter at: @cashboygo

More background on naltrexone and the XBOT Studay can be found here and here. We also recommend reading Walter Sneader’s book: Drug Discovery, A History and also Nancy Campbell’s book OD: The Politics of Overdose.

You can read Zach’s article on Four Good Days and more here: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/magazine/addiction-movies.html

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 19: Debunking Bupe Diversion Myths with Molly Doernberg
Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue
Episode 36: Moral Hazards and Naloxone, A Toxicologist’s Perspective with Ryan Marino

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

Episode 72: When The Trip Doesn’t End with Ed Prideaux

May 28, 2022 Narcotica 01:17:41 0 Comments

Psychedelics and other drugs can trigger a condition called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, a terrible name for a real condition that we don’t have much data on and is poorly understood. But while it’s clear that psychedelics shouldn’t be illegal, it’s also clear we’re still learning about some of the risks. This fascinating and often distressing phenomenon deserves a closer look, but not everything about it is devastatingly tragic, either.

In this episode of Narcotica, co-host Troy Farah talks all about HPPD with Ed Prideaux, a master’s student in psychology at the University of East London with a background in journalism. Ed is currently focused on researching and addressing the problems, possibilities and questions raised by HPPD: a broad, under-researched and not entirely uncommon condition in which people experience sustained and distressing changes to their visual perception (among other effects) after psychedelic trips. Ed has lived with these visual effects for nearly seven years, and is affiliated with a nonprofit launched last year to promote harm reduction around HPPD called the Perception Restoration Foundation.

Follow Ed at https://edprideaux.journoportfolio.com/
Visit the Perception Restoration Foundation at: Perception.Foundation

Some more info on perception as a hallucination: https://www.newstatesman.com/science-tech/2022/02/is-reality-a-hallucination-the-neuroscientist-anil-seth-thinks-so

Some of the studies mentioned in this episode:
The abuse potential of medical psilocybin according to the 8 factors of the Controlled Substances Act
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29753748/
Flashback phenomena after administration of LSD and psilocybin in controlled studies with healthy participants
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35076721/
Adverse effects of psychedelics: From anecdotes and misinformation to systematic science
https://doi.org/10.1177%2F02698811211069100

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 57: Autism, Acid and the Altered Brain with Aaron Orsini and Justine Lee
Episode 64: LSD And Psilocybin For Physical Pain? with Greg McKee and Dr. Johannes Ramaekers
Episode 59: Psychedelic Extinction—How Poaching Endangers Some Psychoactive Plants with Dr. Anya Ermakova

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!

*Note: Troy says niacin is Vitamin C, it’s actually Vitamin B3. We regret the error.

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

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narcotica podcast

Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo

Episode 94: The AI Dystopia Acid Test with Douglas Rushkoff

Episode 93: Veterans’ Harm Reduction Battle with Beth Dinges

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 87: Drug Testing Equals Empowerment with Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta and Charlton Roverson

Episode 86: Why Naloxone Still Matters with Nancy D. Campbell

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

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

Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex

Episode 79: Is California Really Progressive on Drugs? with Dr. Isaac Jackson

Episode 77: Harm Production — The Hazards of Drug Courts with Dave Lucas

Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright

Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis

Episode 74: Cannabis And Capitalism — Preventing Another Big Tobacco with Shaleen Title

Episode 73: Oh No! Not Naltrexone! with Nancy Curran

Episode 72: When The Trip Doesn’t End with Ed Prideaux

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