Narcotica Podcast

Narcotica Podcast


Latest Episodes

Episode 85: “Narcoterrorism” is just another forever war lie with Oswaldo Zavala
February 08, 2024

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 governme

Episode 84: How Drug Seizures Damage Public Health with Drs. Bradley Ray, Jennifer J. Carroll and Brandon del Pozo
January 11, 2024

Like some kind of perverse fishing expedition, were all familiar with the drug warriors favorite form of theater: the drug bust. Every police department seems to do this, posing their officers with

Episode 83: The Parents Who Oppose The War on Drugs with Tamara Olt and Gretchen Bergman
June 14, 2023

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 behavi

Episode 82: Drug War Activism and the Future of Harm Reduction with Louise Vincent
April 20, 2023

The Drug War is more brutal than ever. Overdose deaths are still shattering records, theres talk of war with the cartels, increased penalties are just making things worse, theres little money for ha

Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex
February 02, 2023

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 d

Episode 80: A Messy History of Methadone with Dr. Zoe Adams
December 31, 2022

At Narcotica, weve often talked about how methadone is one of the most over-regulated substances on the planet. Its not a perfect drug nothing is but it helps a lot of people. So why is it so ha

Episode 79: Is California Really Progressive on Drugs? with Dr. Isaac Jackson
December 19, 2022

People have this conception that San Franciscos streets are just overflowing with human shit and people injecting drugs in the open. Stereotypes about California being overrun with homeless encampmen

Episode 78: Drug Use in a Post-Roe World with Dinah Ortiz
September 26, 2022

A future where abortion drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol are trafficked just like fentanyl or methamphetamine or where birth control is sold on the street corner like crack cocaine is really no

Episode 77: Harm Production — The Hazards of Drug Courts with Dave Lucas
September 07, 2022

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.

Episode 76: How To Change Your Mind About ALL Drugs with Veronica Wright
August 05, 2022

Certain celebrity authors want to help you accept that certain drug use is OKand theres nothing wrong with psychedelic exceptionalism, but it overlooks the biggest destructive forces of the drug war