Narcotica Podcast

Sex work is work, just like coal mining, professional sports and literally any job that involves physical labor. So why is a show about drugs interested in sex work? For starters, there’s a lot of overlap in terms of harm reduction services that help people who use drugs and sex workers. Unfortunately, these services can be criminalized and weaponized against both communities. One analogy is condoms and syringes: Syringes can be, and sadly often are, considered paraphernalia and evidence of illegal drug use. Believe it or not, police can, and do, consider condoms as evidence of engaging in sex work. Policing actively counteracts harm reduction services. Thus, there’s real reasons for solidarity among sex workers and drug users. And, as this episode will spell out, there are amazing activists who have bridged these communities together. Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Troy Farah and Chris Moraff speak with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon. Tamika is the Policy and Community Engagement Manager of HIPS, Honoring Individual Power and Strength, a Washington D.C. based organization advocating for the rights and health of people impacted by drug use and sex work since 1993. Caty is a leadership team member and sex worker liaison for Urban Survivors Union, the American national drug users union, founding-co-organizer/executive director of Whose Corner Is It Anyway, a harm reduction, mutual aid, political education, and organizing group by and for low-income, street, and survival sex workers who use opioids and/or stimulants and/or experience housing insecurity. Follow Caty on Instagram @marginalutilite and Tamika on Twitter @tamikahs66 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 26: Housing As Harm Reduction Episode 42: Supervised Consumption is an Essential Service Episode 20: The Pitfalls of Mainstream Harm Reduction with Eliza Wheeler Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Aaron Ferguson Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Juno Mac Flickr edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 62: Policing Pleasure — The Intersection of Sex Work and Drug Use with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon appeared first on Narcotica.

We’re truly living through a disaster. Drug overdose deaths rose nearly 30 percent in 2020 to a record high 93,000. This is no longer an “opioid” crisis. What I mean is, 2020 overdose deaths linked to stimulants, especially methamphetamine, also broke records. The other key development here is the further entrenchment of illicit fentanyl in the drug supply, it’s a contamination at mass-scale. At this point, we’re in a poisoning crisis driven by one thing: prohibition. But harm reduction is the movement that continues to push back against draconian drug policy, even when the odds seem against us. Longterm listeners of this show will be familiar with how harm reduction saves lives, but how did this movement get started in the first place? To learn more, all three Narcotica co-hosts —Zachary Siegel, Troy Farah and Chris Moraff—speak with author Maia Szalavitz, whose new book Undoing Drugs—The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction—is available now. We discuss the struggles of syringe access in the early days to the present, the challenges of being a functioning drug user, and how harm reduction can help address policy changes beyond drugs. Follow Maia on Twitter @maiasz Follow Narcotica on 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 22: Changing the Narrative with Maia Szalavitz and Leo Beletsky Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart Episode 20: The Pitfalls of Mainstream Harm Reduction with Eliza Wheeler Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Aaron Ferguson Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Piqsels edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 61: Undoing Drugs—Harm Reduction’s Early History with Maia Szalavitz appeared first on Narcotica.

One area where drug stigma especially persists, even among harm reduction advocates, is the prejudice against mothers and pregnant people who use drugs. Even some people in syringe exchange or who work in drug policy are against the idea of people with the capacity for pregnancy, (i.e. anyone with a uterus), using pretty much any drugs for any purpose. It’s not clear why the principles of harm reduction that we extend to almost everyone else suddenly stop when it involves a fetus or a uterus. But the lives of pregnant people are no less important than anyone else who uses drugs, and the same attitudes of stigma, abstinence-only and surveillance don’t work here either—they just make the situation worse. Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with not one, but three guests from the Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction, a non-profit that focuses on people with the capacity for pregnancy, who also happen to use drugs. They are: Ria Tsinas, based in Portland, Oregon, who works at Outside In as a syringe exchange specialist and community health worker. She is also the mother of a wonderful kid. Erika Goyer, based in Austin, Texas, Advocate at National Perinatal Association and co-founder at Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction. She is also a parent. And Joelle Puccio, a travel nurse who is sometimes based in Seattle, Washington and works as a voard of directors at The People’s Harm Reduction Alliance. Learn more at perinatalharmreduction.org/ Follow Joelle on Instagram @joellepuccio Follow Ria on Instagram @gtsinas Follow Erika on LinkedIn Follow Narcotica on 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 48: Moms And Methadone with Elizabeth Brico Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue Episode 24: How To Get Abortion Pills Feat. Lynn Paltrow and Francine Coeytaux Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Garrett Farah Music: Glass Boy / done with fish Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Pixabay edit: Troy Farah   The post Episode 60: Perinatal Panic—Drugs, Pregnancy and Stigma with Ria Tsinas, Joelle Puccio and Erika Goyer appeared first on Narcotica.

Psychedelic drugs are well beyond the quote ‘renaissance’ stage and relatively recently entered a ‘gold rush’ as dozens of companies maneuver themselves to make this nascent industry as profitable as possible for themselves. At least that’s part of their motivation. It’s a bit of a double-edged sword for folks that want to see an end to the drug war, but also don’t want access to these substances available only through doctors and therapists. While Big Pharma slowly ambles onward to transform psychedelics into the next blockbuster pharmaceutical, the plant medicine decriminalization movement is steadily growing in the United States and more and more people are taking plant-based psychedelics for spiritual, medicinal and yes, even recreational purposes. No judgment here. The thriving popularity of naturally-occuring entheogens has sparked a lot of concern from some in the psychedelics community, who warn that overuse of these plants for any purpose could drive them to virtual extinction. Imagine if ayahuasca became like Silphium, the ancient contraceptive used by the Greeks and Romans that was consumed to such excess that it is now believed to have vanished from the earth. Could the same happen to psychedelic plants? Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Dr. Anya Ermakova, a researcher based in London with a very extensive background in conservation, ethnobotany, neuroscience, psychiatry and more, almost all of which relates back to psychedelics in some way. She has a master’s in Conservation Science from Imperial College London, a PhD in Psychiatry from the University of Cambridge and a bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences from the University of Edinburgh. She’s worked as a science officer at the Beckley Foundation, and has provided psychedelic welfare and harm reduction services with PsycareUK and Zendo and so much more. You can read Dr. Anya Ermakova’s research on ResearchGate. 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! Some psychedelic plant organizations you can support include The Cactus Conservation Institute and Blessings of the Forest. That paper on the jaguar trade and ayahuasca is here: https://doi.org/10.1111/csp2.126 If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity with Ivan Casselman (Plus, Canada’s Emerging Psilocybin Scene) Episode 35: Holding Space — The Values of Trip Sitting with Michelle Janikian Episode 57: Autism, Acid and the Altered Brain with Aaron Orsini and Justine Lee Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Kesta “Rekindle” Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Flickr edit: Troy Farah (**Note: At one point Troy says that Indigenous people are afraid of losing the ‘privilege’ of having access to peyote, when it is more accurately described as a ‘right.’ A non-trivial distinction! We considered rerecording this question, but decided to leave it as is.) The post Episode 59: Psychedelic Extinction—How Poaching Endangers Some Psychoactive Plants with Dr. Anya Ermakova appeared first on Narcotica.

Few social justice groups have put in as much work to end the war on (people who use) drugs like the Drug Policy Alliance. Since 2000, DPA has been behind some landmark drug reforms, such as leading a campaign to enact major reforms of New York’s notorious Rockefeller drug laws, assisting in a public education campaign that saw Uruguay legalize cannabis in 2013, not to mention funding and drafting the Oregon drug decriminalization measure that passed last year. According to the organization, DPA has played a pivotal role in roughly half of the campaigns that have legalized medical marijuana in the U.S. Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Chris Moraff and Troy Farah speak with Kassandra Frederique, the executive director of DPA, who has been with the organization since 2009 as an intern. We discuss everything from racist policing, cannabis reform laws, and the future of drug policy reform. This interview was recorded around the time of the Derek Chauvin trial, so some states, like New Mexico, had not yet legalized adult-use cannabis. You can follow Kassandra Frederique on Twitter: @Kassandra_Fred and learn more about Drug Policy Alliance’s work at drugpolicy.org 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 44: Reimagining Public Health and Racial Justice with Dr. Ricky Bluthenthal Episode 30: Getting Wrecked with Dr. Kim Sue Episode 11: Beyond Borders — How the U.S. Exports Dangerous Drug Policy with Sanho Tree Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Aaron Ferguson / Nomad1 Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Pixabay edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 58: How Racism Fuels The Drug War with Kassandra Frederique appeared first on Narcotica.

For many people, psychedelic drugs like LSD or psilocybin are their first major introduction to a profoundly altered state of consciousness. Mental conditions like autism or ADHD are other forms of consciousness, although they don’t wear off after 12 hours and so-called ‘neurotypical’ people often have misconceptions about these mental arrangements. Many folks with autism don’t see their condition as a defect or something to be fixed, an attitude that has sparked the neurodiversity movement. But, autism does come with its own set of challenges, some especially find difficulty in socializing with others. A very early body of scientific research suggests that psychedelics could help with some of the challenges of autism. MAPS, for example, has explored using MDMA to treat social anxiety caused by autism. But some folks with autism aren’t waiting for the science to catch up and are trying psychedelics to explore how it can help some of the challenging aspects of autism. Narcotica co-host Troy Farah speaks with Aaron Orsini, author of the book Autism On Acid: How LSD Helped Me Understand, Navigate, Alter & Appreciate My Autistic Perceptions and Justine Lee, a graduate student in pharmacology at UC Irvine with a B.S. in neurobiology. You can follow Aaron Orsini on Twitter: @AutismOnAcid and order the anthology Autistic Psychedelic here. Troy also wrote about this in Filter Magazine, so you can read more about the up-to-date science on this topic and how scientists are studying psychedelics with autism. 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity (Plus, Canada’s Emerging Psilocybin Scene) Episode 35: Holding Space — The Values of Trip Sitting with Michelle Janikian Episode 17: Using DMT To Contact Aliens Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Vuyvch Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Pixabay edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 57: Autism, Acid and the Altered Brain with Aaron Orsini and Justine Lee appeared first on Narcotica.

Our planet is in crisis, plagued by an increase in wildfires, floods, hurricanes, freak storms and outbreaks of disease. As a result, we’re seeing more and more people isolated, left to fend for themselves, as the cracks in public infrastructure only seem to widen. To use one prominent example, the state of Texas has been slapped with recurrent cataclysms and catastrophes of late, most recently the February winter storm that crushed the power grid, leading to food and water shortages, which left at least 111 people dead. At Narcotica, we always wonder about what happens to people who use drugs whenever ecological disaster strikes. Co-hosts Zachary Siegel and Troy Farah talk with Aaron Ferguson, who works as an outreach provider in Austin, Texas and is also on the leadership team of the National Drug Users Union. (Aaron was also a our co-producer on the show for about 20 episodes and volunteered to help with sound editing this one as well!) We discuss everything from the evolving drug trade in Texas to the cult-like mentality that can sometimes manifest in the addiction recovery community and much more. You can follow Aaron Ferguson on Twitter: @sciencenotheism and watch The Methadone Manifesto, a recent webinar hosted by the Urban Survivors Union. Aaron also co-authored a piece in the National Academy of Medicine discussing some of the public health challenges addiction treatment services faced during the recent Texas storm. 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! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 51: The Joy of Drug Use with Dr. Carl Hart Episode 18: Drug User Unions – The Rebirth of Harm Reduction with Jess Tilley and Albie Park Episode 42: Supervised Consumption is an Essential Service Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel Co-producer: Aaron Ferguson / Troy Farah Music: Glass Boy / Suhov Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Justin L. Flickr edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 56: Drug Use During Disaster with Aaron Ferguson appeared first on Narcotica.

Amid a wave of synthetic drugs in recent years, Kensington, Pennsylvania has emerged as the locus for a different kind of experimentation, through a new generation of freelance entrepreneurs. Their bathtub chemistry is often guided by trial and error—leaving doctors, public health officials and harm reductionists struggling to understand the latest side effects.Last year, a concerned toxicologist from the nonprofit Center for Forensic Science Research & Education (CFSRE) at the Fredric Rieders Family Foundation, the academic and research arm of NMS Labs outside Philadelphia, conceived of a new testing program. It employs sophisticated mass spectrometry to reveal the composition of retail-level street drugs. Alex Krotulski, an associate director of the CFSRE, spoke to Narcotica co-host Chris Moraff about everything from synthetic cannabinoids like 5F-APB to carfentanil to xylazine. You can follow Alex Krotulski on Twitter: @alexkrotulski and read Chris’s report on this subject in Filter Magazine. 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 SiegelCo-producer: Garrett FarahMusic: Glass Boy / SuhovIntro voice: Jenny SchayeImage: edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 55: Street Sampling Synthetics, from Carfentanil to Xylazine with Alex Krotulski appeared first on Narcotica.

There’s a “twindemic” raging across the state of West Virginia: Covid-19 has collided with an outbreak of HIV and hepatitis C. If that’s not bad enough, West Virginia has the highest overdose death rate in the nation. The CDC recently called the HIV outbreak in Kanawha County, West Virginia the “most concerning” in the country. Make no mistake, this outbreak is preventable, and is largely driven by the failure of local governments to provide syringe service programs to people who use drugs. Even worse, West Virginia lawmakers are actively trying to pass legislation to further restrict harm reduction programs across the state. Covering this disaster of health and reactionary politics is Lauren Peace, a local investigative reporter at the nonprofit news outlet Mountain State Spotlight. Lauren has been providing vital on the ground coverage of embattled harm reduction programs—programs like Solutions Oriented Addiction Response (SOAR) that are working against a toxic backlash to prevent more HIV cases from spreading and save lives.This episode is a one-on-one conversation with co-host Zachary Siegel and Lauren, who discusses what it’s like on the ground in West Virginia and the endless battle to put out science-based information in the face of stigma and misguided narratives about harm reduction. Plus, a bit of news at the top of the show about Biden’s pick for ONDCP director (read Zach’s piece in Filter) and Senate Bill 334, a piece of harmful legislation moving through West Virginia’s legislature.You can follow Lauren on Twitter: @LaurenMPeace and read her work at Mountain State Spotlight. 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!If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:Episode 37: Covering Culture and Drugs with Substance with Kate KnibbsEpisode 19: Debunking Bupe Diversion Myths with Molly DoernbergEpisode 36: Moral Hazards and Naloxone, A Toxicologist’s Perspective with Ryan Marino Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary SiegelCo-producer: Garrett FarahMusic: Glass Boy / LasersIntro voice: Jenny SchayeImage: Bill Dickinson via Flickr // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 54: West Virginia, America’s Worst Overdose and HIV Hotspot with Lauren Peace appeared first on Narcotica.

It’s kinda weird hearing people say “weed is mainstream” now, when merely possessing the plant stuff can still earn you serious consequences in many parts of the world. But the growing popularity of cannabis is unmistakable. Marijuana is now a global, multi-billion dollar industry—well, to be fair, it always was, only now it’s all legitimate and overtaxed and commercialized instead of enriching drug cartels. Regardless, cannabis is more popular than ever, with a rapidly growing fandom among older generations. Even Martha Stewart is into CBD now. But while it’s great to see so many people starting to dig the awesome benefits cannabis sativa offers, it’s important to contextualize the culture and history that got us here. On Narcotica, we’ve done more than 50 episodes about all kinds of drugs: opioids, meth, cocaine, psilocybin magic mushrooms, ketamine, even sorta obscure stuff like antibiotics and salvia. But we’ve never done an episode entirely devoted to cannabis! How weird is that? One of the world’s most popular drugs, one I use every day and we just… haven’t gotten to it yet. So we thought we’d start things off with a bang and bring in one of weed’s biggest fans, none other than comedian, musician and world famous stoner Tommy Chong, of Cheech and Chong fame. We discuss everything from prison life to getting high in old age to how ‘Up In Smoke’ became a blockbuster hit to the emerging cannabis industry.You can follow Tommy on Twitter @tommychong If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:Episode 2: Anthony Bourdain, Suicide and the Myth of Cross AddictionEpisode 49: Salvia: Psychedelic Oddity (Plus, Canada’s Emerging Psilocybin Scene)Episode 25: Banning Kratom Will Escalate the Opioid Overdose Crisis with Walter ProzialeckFollow 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 SiegelCo-producer: Garrett FarahMusic: Glass Boy / Jesse SpillaneIntro voice: Jenny SchayeImage: Wikipedia / FreeSVG // edit: Troy Farah The post Episode 53: A Life of Getting Lit with Tommy Chong appeared first on Narcotica.