Narcotica Podcast

Ed Prideaux, an expert in Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, discusses the symptoms, challenges, and risks associated with this condition. They explore the difficulties of conducting clinical trials on psychedelics, critique mental health labels, and discuss the potential of psychedelics in addressing the mental health crisis. The podcast also highlights the importance of accessibility to mental health services for individuals who take psychedelics.

It’s easy to hate the massive pharmaceutical corporations that extract obscene profit from the healthcare system—and there are many, many reasons why you should distrust these companies, although the situation is far more complex than “Big Pharma = bad.” But how did we get here? How did medical care get so expensive, so complicated and sometimes, so harmful? Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Dr. John Abramson, a long-time critic of Big Pharma, whose new book Sickening untangles the many perverse incentives that dominate American healthcare. It helps explain why drug prices are so high, why medications that harm instead of heal are regularly approved by the FDA and much more, starting with the recent debacle over Aduhelm, an extremely controversial Alzheimer’s drug. Follow Dr. Abramson on Twitter: @DrJohnAbramson and get Sickening: ow Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It here. You can read Troy’s review of Sickening on Undark Magazine here: https://undark.org/2022/03/18/book-review-sickening/ If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 46: Behind The Pharmacists’ Counter with Jessica Moreno Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar 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: Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Rudolf Ammann / Flickr // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 71: Aduhelm, Obscene Drug Prices and Big Pharma Tactics with Dr. John Abramson appeared first on Narcotica.

Imagine banning a chemical that we all make in our bodies. But that’s exactly where drug war logic takes us and why testosterone is Schedule III on the Controlled Substances Act, alongside ketamine and buprenorphine. Testosterone is painted as some dangerous substance that must be locked up. These outlandish fears led to restrictive laws which lead to criminalization and barriers to access—essentially criminalizing identity and the very bodies we inhabit. But bans on testosterone, ostensibly to stop athletes from boosting their competitive abilities, can have real world impacts, especially for gender variant people, especially transmasculine people. Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah talk with Adryan Corcione about the climate of testosterone, why this hormone became so scrutinized (and how Joe Biden was part of that), and how syringe access programs have stepped in to help folks get the recognition and healthcare they deserve. Follow Adryan Corcione on Twitter and read their piece in Filter Magazine here. A few resources: https://www.transformationsproject.org/legislation – anti trans legislation tracker by state https://www.them.us/story/anti-lgbtq-bills-2022-explained-trans-sports-laws-youth-healthcare-mandated-reporter – recent roundup of anti-trans bills https://translifeline.org/ – trans lifeline, peer hot line for trans people experiencing crisis https://www.thetrevorproject.org/ – 24/7 LGBTQ+ hotline for young LGBTQ+ people https://reconcilearkansas.org/ – Arkansas specific group to support trans/gnc youth https://www.transtexas.org/ – transgender education education network of texss https://tranzmission.org/ – trans rights org in western NC Also, reach out to trans-specific groups local to you. 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 33: Party and Play—An Intro to Chemsex with David Stuart Episode 60: Perinatal Panic—Drugs, Pregnancy and Stigma with Ria Tsinas, Joelle Puccio and Erika Goyer Episode 24: How To Get Abortion Pills Feat. Lynn Paltrow and Francine Coeytaux 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 Music: Glass Boy / Paddington Bear Intro voice: Jenny Schaye The post Episode 70: How Testosterone Bans Criminalize the Body with Adryan Corcione appeared first on Narcotica.

Psychedelics are not exactly taking the same path that cannabis has taken to the mainstream, but there are some similarities. In the late ‘90s and early aughts, when medical cannabis was first starting to take hold in California, quasi-legal businesses popped up overnight, with a lot of questionable quality control and these shops were often raided by the DEA. Now cannabis is so blasé in places like California and more than 15 other states that have adult-use weed, that it’s almost hard to imagine a time when you couldn’t have a bag of cannabis gummies, plus a joint dipped in oil and rolled in kief, delivered directly to your door like they used to do with Netflix DVDs. Is that what we’re going to see with psilocybin, LSD, DMT and all the rest? Already people in some places like D.C., Colorado and Oregon are selling branded psychedelic edibles. In a lot of ways with psychedelics, we’re right where we were around 2010 with cannabis—a quasi-legal market that is ready to become legitimate, whether you like it or not. Narcotica co-host Troy Farah talks with Shelby Hartman and Madison Margolin, two of the great minds behind DoubleBlind Magazine, a publication dedicated to all things psychedelics and much more in the periphery of psychedelic culture. They discuss some of the pros and cons psychedelics becoming mainstream, how people can navigate this emerging space, the Decriminalize Nature movement, reciprocity for Indigenous people and much more. Visit https://doubleblindmag.com/ for more info. Follow Madison on Twitter: @margolinmadison Follow Shelby on Twitter: @shelbyannehart 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 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity with Ivan Casselman 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. 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 / HoliznaCC0 Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Open Clipart // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 69: The Promise and Peril of the Psychedelic Mainstream with Shelby Hartman and Madison Margolin appeared first on Narcotica.

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 The post Episode 68: Is The Drug War Getting Better… Or Worse? with Zach Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah appeared first on Narcotica.

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 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 The post Episode 67: Methadone in the Time of Covid with Danielle Russell appeared first on Narcotica.

Booze is one of the most ancient and most prolific drugs in society, yet for some reason, it’s always placed in some separate category. Drugs and alcohol. Even at Narcotica, we’ve done over 65 episodes about drugs and not one of them has focused solely on ethanol. We just haven’t gotten to it yet, we’ve had so many other topics we’ve wanted to explore. The relationship people have with alcohol is so illustrative of Western society’s perspective on addiction and substance use, which is linked to the idea that addiction is a disease. But this framework, while a step above the idea that addiction is a moral failing, is still very destructive. Narcotica co-host Troy Farah gets into why this is the case in an interview with Dr. Stanton Peele, a brilliant psychologist and the author of Love and Addiction, co-authored by Archie Brodsky, a 1975 book that has really turned the idea of addiction as a disease on its head. Many giants in drug policy analysis, including Maia Szalavitz and Dr. Carl Hart, have cited Love and Addiction as influential on their way of thinking. Follow Stanton Peele on Twitter @speele5 and check out his new book, A Scientific Life on the Edge: My Lonely Quest to Change How We See Addiction. If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 33: Party and Play—An Intro to Chemsex with David Stuart Episode 61: Undoing Drugs—Harm Reduction’s Early History with Maia Szalavitz 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: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Crowander Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Noun Project // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 66: Overlooking Alcohol and The Nature of Addiction with Dr. Stanton Peele appeared first on Narcotica.

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 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: Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Stockvault // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 65: Restoring Trust in Doctors Amidst The Overdose Crisis with Dr. Ben Cocchiaro and Dr. Ashish Thakrar appeared first on Narcotica.

These days, there isn’t an ailment some Silicon Valley-esque startup is trying to treat with psychedelics. Of course you have depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and fear of death for the terminally ill—there’s some good data for treating all of that—but some of the more obscure treatments include anorexia and eating disorders, sexual dysfunction, dementia, and even rare conditions like fragile X syndrome. Psychedelics are amazing drugs, but they’re not a panacea. It’s not that this research isn’t worth investigating, but how do you determine what’s just hype and what the actual potential of psilocybin, LSD, DMT, etc. really is? It may be wise to be skeptical of psychedelics being used to treat physical pain. Yet while the research is very young, there is some fascinating evidence that psychedelics may help with chronic pain, fibromyalgia, cluster headaches and even phantom limb pain. And what’s interesting is so many different research institutions and corporations are exploring this question. It’s not exactly a fringe topic and Narcotica co-host Troy Farah dives in with two conversations. The first is an interview with Greg McKee, CEO of Tryp Therapeutics, a California-based startup that is exploring chronic pain relief using psilocybin and another, psilocybin-based drug with an undisclosed formulation that is obliquely called TRP-8803. The company has partnered with the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to study how these drugs might treat fibromyalgia and Tryp has added leading psychedelic researcher Robin Carhart-Harris to its scientific advisory board, where he will play a “critical role” in clinical trial design. The second interview is with Dr. Johannes Ramaekers of Maastricht University, who says he is developing another pain study to look at psychedelics and fibromyalgia. He was the lead author of a very interesting study published in 2020 in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that found that quote “low doses of LSD might constitute a novel pharmacological therapy.” Read Troy’s article in Scientific American here: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-psychedelic-drugs-treat-physical-pain/ Read Dr. Ramaekers’ pain and LSD study here: https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0269881120940937 Learn more about Tryp Therapeutics at https://tryptherapeutics.com/ If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 41: What Does It All Ketamine? with Dr. Erica Zelfand Episode 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity (Plus, Canada’s Emerging Psilocybin Scene) Episode 25: Banning Kratom Will Escalate the Opioid Overdose Crisis with Walter Prozialeck 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 Music: Glass Boy Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: PXFuel // The Noun Project // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 64: LSD And Psilocybin For Physical Pain? with Greg McKee and Dr. Johannes Ramaekers appeared first on Narcotica.

Nearly half the U.S. population now have access to adult-use cannabis. Marijuana is a medicine, if it’s cultivated or extracted right, and millions of people find relief or pleasure from this fantastic plant. But as legalization accelerates, regulations have struggled to keep up. Most experts and maybe many consumers would agree that cannabis is not well regulated or could use some improvements. Meanwhile, new cannabinoids like delta-8-THC, THC-O and more are hitting the streets, licit and illicit. This is a rapidly changing environment, which is far beyond THC and CBD, the two most well-known drugs in marijuana. It leaves a lot of questions: Are these ‘new’ cannabinoids safe? What do they do in the body? What about vaping them? Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Jason Wilson of Medford Oregon, host of the Curious About Cannabis podcast, and author of the book of the same name, which can be found at CACpodcast.com. Jason is a biologist and science educator that has been studying the biochemistry of the cannabis plant and cannabis-derived products for nearly a decade. Jason has done work with groups like the International Institute for Cannabinoids (ICANNA) and serves as a member on the board of directors for the Oregon Cannabis Education and Resource Center. Follow Jason on Twitter @AboutCannabis If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 53: A Life of Getting Lit with Tommy ChongEpisode 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity (Plus, Canada’s Emerging Psilocybin Scene) Episode 25: Banning Kratom Will Escalate the Opioid Overdose Crisis with Walter Prozialeck 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 Music: Glass Boy / Done With Fish Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Flickr — Willpower Studios // edit: Troy FarahThe post Episode 63: Delta-8-THC And Other Obscure Cannabinoids with Jason Wilson appeared first on Narcotica.