Narcotica Podcast

Something that never gets said enough is that the drug war is racist. This is not an opinion any more than it is an opinion that the American Civil War was fought over slavery. Both were crafted by racists to serve racist agendas of controlling people based on their skin color. It is why it... The post Episode 47: Can Harm Reduction and Cops Coexist? appeared first on Narcotica .

You ever wonder what the hell pharmacists even do? To laypeople, pharmacists are the gatekeepers standing between us and our drugs. But they can be, and arguably, should be, much more than that. Even though just about everyone has experience with pharmacists, some good, some really bad, the profession is still a bit of a... The post Episode 46: Behind The Pharmacists’ Counter with Jessica Moreno a...

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... The post Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin appeared first on N...

There are several health crises occurring around the U.S. and the world right now: overdose deaths, a pandemic, police brutality and violence… While these crises may all feel distinct one from one another, they are actually deeply entwined and can be understood through a lens of racial justice. Overdose deaths disparately impact people of color,... The post Episode 44: Reimagining Public Health an...

The last place you’d want to be dependent on drugs, besides the Philippines, North Korea or the United States, is probably Russia. To give just one example, the Motherland has long banned the use of medication-assisted treatment, such as buprenorphine or methadone, which has made recovery next to impossible for many users.  Narcotica co-host Christopher... The post Episode 43: Russian Roulette—Lif...

Pretty much everyone on the planet is being impacted by Covid-19 right now. Harm reduction services like syringe access programs or supervised consumption sites are no exception. But for some people, these services are not just their lifeline, they’re the only healthcare they receive, period. And when hospitals and doctor’s offices are already stretched thin,... The post Hot Spots 1 – 3 Arizona, I...

The covid-19 crisis has exposed many weak spots in our culture and the need for radical change. It has revealed which workers are really essential—hint: it’s not executives keeping this late-stage capitalist economy afloat—and that we need to pay these workers a living wage. It has revealed that yes, healthcare is a human right and... The post Episode 42: Supervised Consumption is an Essential Ser...

Ketamine is one of the most versatile drugs on Earth, an amazing anesthetic that can relieve pain without the same risk of respiratory failure as opioids (nothing against them, of course.) Overwhelming evidence also suggests ketamine can rapidly reverse suicidal thoughts, making it a potent treatment for PTSD and treatment-resistant depression.  Last year, a specialized... The post Episode 41: Wha...

In these uncertain times, Narcotica aims to not only give our listeners vital public health information, but also offer a sense of reassurance and community. If you’re following the social distancing guidelines, or working from home, life may feel a little extra lonely right now, and we aim to provide interviews and conversations to keep... The post Episode 40: Harm Reduction Amidst Pandemic with...

In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention laid out guidelines for primary care doctors prescribing opioids to treat chronic pain. Essentially, these guidelines stated that opioids should not be the first line treatment for pain, and that other methods should be tried first. Which is perfectly sensible. But when it came to dosing... The post Episode 39: Pain Patients Are Still Fightin...

Public officials have been yelling from the rooftops that there’s an opioid epidemic. Yes, an obscene number of people are dying from overdoses, many of which involve opioids. But they’re not quite right. Researchers who really get what’s going on describe what’s happening to the U.S. drug supply over the last few years as a... The post Episode 38: Dead People Don’t Recover — The Importance of Saf...

It’s difficult to write about drugs without being steeped and schooled in the discourse. Cultural tropes and conventional wisdom dominates the space. Drugs are anthropomorphized as the enemy. People who use drugs are described as manipulative and selfish, unless, of course, they’re “clean.” Often there is little empirical research cited and the same old voices... The post Episode 37: Covering Cult...

An opioid overdose can be a terrifying experience. When too much of a  drug like heroin or fentanyl floods the brain, it can cause your  breathing to stop. Sometimes you wake up, sometimes you don’t. But  there’s a miraculous drug called naloxone or brand name Narcan that can  reverse an opioid overdose and save your... The post Episode 36: Moral Hazards and Naloxone, A Toxicologist’s Perspective...

Magic mushrooms are having a bit of a moment. Some scientists are bending over backgrounds investing in psilocybin research, which is getting huge accolades from the FDA, while a decriminalization movement is slowly sweeping the nation. At least two towns have made psilocybin arrests the cops’ lowest priority. But how do you prevent a mushroom... The post Episode 35: Holding Space — The Values of...

President Richard Nixon ignited the War on Drugs in 1971 by declaring drugs “public enemy No. 1.” Over the ensuing decades, the U.S. has turned the Drug War into a vital feature of its vast empire, exporting a drug policy of militant enforcement and harsh criminalization in Mexico, Latin America, South America, and beyond. Exactly... The post Episode 34: “Inside the Bloody War on Drugs” with Anton...

Aphrodisiacs are powerfully attractive for a reason. Sex is, after all, crucial to the survival of our species and it feels fucking amazing, so using chemicals that can make sex last longer, feel better or otherwise enhance the act is going to be like candy to a bunch of horny primates. But the term chemsex—using... The post Episode 33: Party and Play—An Intro to Chemsex with David Stuart appeared...

On today's show, co-host Zachary Siegel interviews Ben Westhoff about how he gained access to a clandestine lab in China, the prominent role that America's War on Drugs has played in producing deadlier, more potent drugs that no user actually really wants, and finally, that in order to save the lives of people using drugs, the US must adopt innovative harm reduction strategies that have been teste...

Safehouse is safe, for now. On Wednesday Oct. 2, a federal judge in Philadelphia ruled that a supervised injection site proposed by the nonprofit Safehouse would not violate a provision of the Controlled Substances Act, known as the “Crack House” statute, authored by none other than Democratic presidential frontrunner, Joe Biden. On today’s episode, hosts Troy,... The post Episode 31: Supervised C...

Doctors are often blamed for prescribing America into the opioid crisis. Their reckless actions, relying on opioids to relieve just about every morsel of pain, ignited the deadliest overdose crisis in history, so we’re told. Of course, the narrative around doctors is much more complex than that. But one truth is inescapable: Without doctors prescribing... The post Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with...

By now you might be wondering whether your vape pen has acquired a taste for human blood. There have been several deaths and hundreds of cases of “mysterious lung illnesses” traced back to various “vaping products,” according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since that sentence is incredibly vague and next to useless,... The post Episode XXIX: Darth Vaper The Panic Strikes Back a...

Antibiotic resistance and doping at the Olympics are two pretty unrelated ideas, but they’re both covered in the new book ‘The Day It Finally Happens’ by author and journalist Mike Pearl, who sat down in Narcotica co-host Troy Farah’s kitchen. The post Episode 28: Antibiotic Resistance and Doping at the Olympics with Mike Pearl appeared first on Narcotica .

Narcotica co-host Zachary Siegel was in Los Angeles for a conference on depicting drug use in Hollywood films and TV shows, so co-host Troy Farah trudged down from the High Desert and they recorded an episode in a hotel room. Despite doing Narcotica for well over a year, the pair hadn’t met in person before.... The post Episode 27: What’s the Most Dangerous Drug? appeared first on Narcotica .

The Kensington neighborhood in Philadelphia is often described as “ground zero” in the overdose crisis. The New York Times Magazine gave Kensington’s open air drug market the dubious title, “The Walmart of Heroin.” Of course, if you take a tour of Kensington without a DEA agent nearby, you might meet someone like Sarn, who after... The post Episode 26: Housing As Harm Reduction appeared first on N...

Kratom, a strange plant from Southeast Asia has become one of the most controversial herbs in the United States. In this episode, Troy Farah breaks down the risks and potential benefits of this unique tree and why banning it would likely lead to a devastating increase in deaths in the opioid overdose crisis with Walter... The post Episode 25: Banning Kratom Will Escalate the Opioid Overdose Crisis...

What does abortion access have to do with the war on drugs? EVERYTHING. On this episode, we talk about some of the most controversial drugs of them all, drugs that are often overlooked in the debate about reforming drug policy: abortifacients, drugs that induce miscarriage, ending pregnancies. Specifically, misoprostol and mifepristone. We speak with Lynn... The post Episode 24: How To Get Abortio...