Narcotica Podcast

When people say stigma kills, it’s not hyperbole. For some reason, it’s still totally socially acceptable in some circles to say that if someone gets an illness related to drug use, that they deserve it. Such sentiments aren’t just dangerous and untrue, they hold people back from getting what should be routine healthcare. Hepatitis C is a perfect example of this. There’s a cure for hepatitis C, but millions still can’t get it due to high costs, insurance strangleholds and a lack of widespread testing. That leaves people vulnerable to liver cancers, liver failure and death — all of which is totally preventable. Stigmatizing attitudes from medical staff and the Kafkaesque hoops people have to jump through to get treatment are just some of the many artificial barriers that make people who use drugs more vulnerable to bloodborne diseases. This is, of course, outrageous. On this episode of Narcotica, co-hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Nick Voyles of Bloomington, Indiana, where he is Program Manager at the Indiana Recovery Alliance. He also works nationally with Urban Survivors Union on viral hepatitis elimination and medication assisted treatment reform. He is a proud Patient Advocate for NVHR and believes in Harm Reduction. Nick is hepatitis C and interferon survivor, and his experience with intravenous drug use, incarceration, and homelessness fuel his advocacy. Radical Love and ‘Any Positive Change’ are the driving forces behind his work. Narcotica is still here! We lost our Facebook/Instagram account (banned for being too cool.) Follow Narcotica on Twitter, YouTube, BlueSky and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com and browse suggested books in Narcotica’s reading library. Help keep this podcast paywall and ad free! Your support is appreciated! 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 71: Aduhelm, Obscene Drug Prices and Big Pharma Tactics with Dr. John Abramson Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex Episode 82: Drug War Activism and the Future of Harm Reduction with Louise Vincent 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: Wikipedia The post Episode 97: How Hepatitis Stigma Silently Kills with Nick Voyles appeared first on Narcotica.

Not everyone views addiction in chiefly negative terms, which isn’t all too surprising to anyone with a little world experience, but it sometimes still feels shocking because of how dominant the mainstream narrative that dependency (on certain drugs) is automatically a moral failing or represents a physical or mental shortcoming. It doesn’t have to be framed this way — and arguably, the overwhelming negative focus is part of the problem. But where do we start when we explore the division between addiction and vice? Narcotica co-hosts Aaron Ferguson and Troy Farah speak with Elizabeth Roberts, a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan, who since 2013, she has participated in collaborative environmental health research in Mexico City, which has been a catalyst for her questioning a lot of dogma about addiction in different societies. In many places, Roberts finds in her latest book, “In Praise of Addiction,” the real negative harms don’t come from drugs but isolation and harmful systems like mass incarceration that divide communities. By reframing the question, we can start building a society that doesn’t shame or stigmatize people for arbitrary behaviors. Roberts’ latest book “In Praise of Addiction: Or How We Can Learn To Love Dependency in a Damaged World,” is available from Princeton University Press. Narcotica is still here! More updates soon. We lost our Facebook/Instagram account (banned for being too cool.) Follow Narcotica on Twitter, YouTube, BlueSky and support us on Patreon. We just opened a shop where you can order Narcotica merch: narcocast.myshopify.com and browse suggested books in Narcotica’s reading library. Help keep this podcast ad-free! Your support is appreciated! If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy: Episode 81: Harm Reduction Against the Prison-Industrial Complex Episode 66: Overlooking Alcohol and The Nature of Addiction with Dr. Stanton Peele Episode 83: The Parents Who Oppose The War on Drugs with Tamara Olt and Gretchen Bergman 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: StockSnap / Pixabay The post Episode 96: The Schism of Addiction and Vice with Elizabeth Roberts appeared first on Narcotica.

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 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 and browse suggested books in Narcotica’s reading library. 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: Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 / Algorithms by Chad Crouch Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: Wikimedia Commons The post Episode 95: Behind the Speedboat Dope Bombings with Ioan Grillo appeared first on Narcotica.

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 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: Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 / Organisms by Chad Crouch Intro voice: Jenny Schaye Image: ArtGrafx / Flickr The post Episode 94: The AI Dystopia Acid Test with Douglas Rushkoff appeared first on Narcotica.

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 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: Troy Farah, Aaron Ferguson Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1 Intro voice: Jenny Schaye The post Episode 93: Veterans’ Harm Reduction Battle with Beth Dinges appeared first on Narcotica.