Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

 www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This Week on Dopey! Billy Mother Fucking Strings comes on to share his truth! But first Dave meditates, reads spotify reviews, reads an email about premature ejaculation, and a voicemail from Dopey OG Alex on meth, fent and needing makeup! Then Billy joins Dave on Dopey to talk openly about addiction shaping his entire life—from his dad dying of a heroin overdose when he was two, to growing up in houses full of meth use, crack dealers, and chaos, to smoking meth and tripping on acid with his mom as a teenager. He describes leaving home at 13, couch surfing, dropping out of school, playing in metal bands, smoking crack, and eventually getting pulled back toward bluegrass.Billy talks about how his parents' addiction destroyed stability, how meth “fucked everything up” in his hometown, how he stayed awake for four-day binges while playing guitar with his dad, and what finally made him leave. He also describes the first time he did heroin, why he stopped drinking nine years ago, and how addiction still affects him through dreams and cravings.He reflects deeply on his mother’s recent death from methamphetamine intoxication, discovering his dad was using too, attending Al-Anon meetings, reading his mom’s poems, and trying to break the cycle for his own son. He also talks about touring arenas, the pressure of success, therapy, panic attacks, being molested as a child, and wanting to help others impacted by addiction.All that and much more on a wall to wall traumatic tale of how secrets can make us sick! This week and forever on the good old Dopey show!Happy Thanksgiving! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastDave opens the Tuesday teaser alone in his house, loving the rare quiet and recording next to Susan the snake’s terrarium. He complains about his fancy Rogan-style mic breaking, says he hates stands, and talks about launching “fake meditation shit” because he likes the sound of his own voice.He previews this week’s Patreon episode: him and Doug in the Honda Pilot “by the bay,” where Dave had a full sneezing meltdown and wound up blowing his nose into his sock for the entire show because he had no tissues.Dave announces a possible new Dopey schedule:Monday: standalone interviewTuesday: teaserWednesday: Secret DopeyThursday: archived interviews or mailbagFriday: DopeyHe announces a Patreon Zoom at 9pm.He then reads an email from a listener named Dave, who realized his sponsor is the guy who made the Firecracker rap for DopeyCon. Dave plays the Firecracker rap and riffs on how good it is, how white recovery rap can be weird, and how much he loves the shout-out to Artie Lange and Chris.The emailer says he’s 18 months sober and thanks Dave. Dave tells him to send more rap.Then the teaser cuts to Dave and Doug in the Honda Pilot, roasting each other. Doug calls Dave a homeless person for blowing his nose in a sock. They argue about Rich Roll, Doug’s critiques of Dave’s interviews, Doug’s surgery, Dave’s voice, meditation, and a guy on Soft White Underbelly. Doug claims Dave was needy and weak on his second Rich Roll appearance. Dave pushes back.All that and not much more on the all new patreon teaser for the good old dopey show. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

NO INSERTED ADS: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis week on Dopey!In this unbelievably heavy episode, Dave sits with Glynis as she unpacks a lifetime of addiction, trauma, and survival that spans Massachusetts, Texas, L.A., jail, pimping culture, meth psychosis, fentanyl, gang life, and ultimately federal prison. Glynis describes early emotional wounds, resentment toward her mother, the “magnet” pull of addiction, and how heroin became the only place she ever felt OK. She talks about couch-surfing and freezing nights in Boston, smoking meth for the first time in Texas, disappearing on multi-day runs, underground game rooms, GHB comedowns, and getting sucked into the world of pimps, sex work, and Money Mike — a relationship built on psychological control, fear tactics, and the twisted logic of “pimp and ho culture.”Her story escalates into car thefts, robberies, abscesses, neck shots, living in trap motels, being handcuffed to a sink by gang members, and eventually becoming a renegade escort in L.A., buying ounces and then pounds of fentanyl off Skid Row. Glynis explains how she was recruited to smuggle undocumented people across the border — driving a Mercedes with people hidden in the trunk while cartel-connected spotters fed her instructions through Bluetooth. She’s arrested, violently kicks fentanyl in federal custody, falls from a bunk, hits her head, and becomes cross-eyed for months. COVID lockdown hits prison, she begins praying out of desperation, and she’s unexpectedly released early. Dumped into a chaotic men’s sober house, she meets “Jimmy the Poet,” the only sober person there, and for the first time listens when someone suggests recovery. Glynis begins 12-step work, finds community, and slowly becomes a stable, married, sponsoring adult who can finally say she didn’t stay broken forever.All that and way more on a rough and tough new episode of the good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast join patreon for good extras! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

www.patreon.con/dopeypodcastThis Week on Dopey! I'm in Philly at the Rise for Recovery Conference! I was on Soft White Underbelly! I read Spotify comments, and one of the single greatest dopey emails ever! And Old School Dopey Kirby sends in a voicemail about what it means to be an addict. Then we welcome the incredible Roddy Bottum, keyboardist for Faith No More and lead singer/guitar of Imperial Teen, and author of his new book, The Royal We. Roddy talks about growing up gay in a hard-rock world, his early San Francisco punk days, and how Courtney Love briefly joined Faith No More before their friendship and drug use turned dark. He remembers touring with the Chili Peppers, getting arrested for weed, experimenting with heroin, and being surrounded by chaos as Faith No More blew up with “Epic.”Roddy opens up about how addiction and grief collided — the deaths of his friend Cliff, Kurt Cobain, and especially his father, who died of cancer soon after Roddy got sober. He and Dave talk about recovery, guilt, and the weirdness of surviving when so many others didn’t. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

If you wanna hear the full thing — head to 👉 www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

🧠 Dopey Episode 555: Rich Roll Returns!This week on Dopey I met Jeff Ross at Katz’s (he thought I’d be short and fat), go through Spotify comments!There’s a voicemail from Tom in Oregon about trying to cop dope in Vietnam that goes very gay and sideways. Then there’s a super sweet email from Bailey in Chicago, a recovery coach who just hit five years. I also ramble about Mountainside, Oro Recovery, and Recovery Unplugged, and Recovery.com who all actually help Dopey Nation people when they’re in trouble.Then Rich Roll comes over to my dad’s apartment. Rich literally just flew back from Japan and tells me his first dopey story about doing a guided psychedelic session in Mexico with psilocybin and MDMA. He talks about family trauma, ego, trying to find grace, love, all that spiritual shit — and somehow makes it sound cool. We talk about AA, time, identity, relapse shame, and podcasting. He’s deep and I’m just interrupting him constantly.We also talk about music (he’s a Radiohead, R.E.M., Smiths guy — no Dead) and the state of podcasting.All that plus more on the somewhat AI powered new edition of the good old dopey show. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This week on the tease! Susan is sick! Eating Bad! Dental Surgery Percocet! Nitrous! Montana Prison in Texas! Joey Ramone!MORE! MORE! MORE! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast This week on Dopey! Dave opens the episode feeling sick, dreading his upcoming dental implants, and joking about painkillers, nitrous, and Tylenol PM. He congratulates longtime dopes Margaret Hernandez (36 years sober) and Mattie Veach (recovering from cancer surgery), prays for the Knicks, and introduces guest RJ Elizarraz, co-host of Against All Odds with Rachel Slocum and founder of Oak Forest Recovery.Before diving in, Dave reads Spotify comments from the Brace Belden episode — about therapy, high memories, Suboxone, and more — gives shoutouts to listeners, and pushes the legendary Dopey socks. He jokes about how each platform reacts differently: Patreon loves him, Reddit hates him, Facebook doesn’t care.He plays an old Miles Davis clip about Charlie Parker doing drugs and sex in a taxi while eating fried chicken, and finds the recovery moral in it — acceptance is the key. A listener named Nathan from San Francisco sends a disgusting classic: at 12 he cooked and ate his own poop hoping it would make DMT. It didn’t. He puked, got bullied, overdosed, and finally got sober. Dave laughs, calls it top-notch Dopey storytelling, and awards him socks. Then comes the main interview with RJ Elizares. They record in RJ’s Westlake Village home — complete with an infrared sauna, cold plunge, and jade crystal massage bed. RJ also runs a marketing agency for medical clients and has a 13-year-old daughter.RJ tells his story:Grew up in Westlake, straight-edge nerd playing video games and paintball.Swore he’d never do drugs, then caved at 15 after a best-friend betrayal.Smoked weed with his stepbrother, laughed hysterically at Maury Povich, devoured frozen peas, and instantly became “the stoner.”Started selling weed and stealing paintball gear; pulled off a heist from an optometrist’s back-room store until his stepbrother turned him in for the reward.Skipped school, bribed attendance clerks with weed, got caught high at a parent meeting, expelled.At continuation school, excelled while high, manipulated teachers, and got expelled again for lying.Ran away on a dirt bike, sold weed full-time, then transferred to another continuation school where a rival stabbed him in the arm with a pencil for “selling on his turf.”Graduated early by testing out, kept selling, moved out, and lived off weed money.With his girlfriend (later the mother of his daughter) did ecstasy, coke, Xanax, mushrooms, pills — everything but heroin.She overdosed on ecstasy and stopped breathing before being revived — a turning point moment. 🔍 SEO KEYWORDS  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dave opens this Tuesday Dopey Patreon teaser by reflecting on feeling burnt out, upcoming dental implant surgery, and the need to slow down. He jokes about “cultivating illness” to get rest and shares his current obsession with the Martin Scorsese documentary series Mr. Scorsese, hoping listeners will “pray and manifest” Scorsese appearing on Dopey. He talks about Scorsese’s film legacy, calling Goodfellas untouchable.Dave reads a Spotify comment from Emma about a pork ad and debates if it’s anti-Semitic, then begins a new segment reading from Miles Davis’s autobiography — a vivid story about Charlie Parker pawning Miles’s belongings for heroin.Next, longtime Dopey Nation member Selby calls in with a story about getting through TSA with weed gummies and ends with “stay strong, Dopey Nation, and fucking toodles for Chris.” Dave laughs about TSA searches, harmonicas being mistaken for weapons, and promises either to play harmonica on the road or stop traveling with it.The teaser transitions into the Patreon preview with Ray Brown and Dave’s dad, where a discussion about politics erupts — his dad talks about kindness, empathy, immigration, and frustration with leadership. Dave tries to steer it back but ends up apologizing for the tangent. The teaser closes with Dave’s song “I Wanna Be Good So Bad,” a raw, humorous original with lyrics about bad desire, frustration, calling his dad, and seeking peace and love.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This Week on Dopey! Dave opens with a cocaine-barroom parody and rolls into updates: DopeyCon afterglow, Spotify/iTunes comments, LA travel nerves, and sponsor shout-outs. Listener Archie checks in with a salvia-in-underwear saga; another listener writes about rock-salt shrooms and missing the Dead’s final Jerry show; “Chip” reports nearly a year sober and reflects on denial. Then Brace Belden (Truenon) sits down in Dave’s new DIY studio for a sprawling hang: meetings vs. therapy, analysis and trazodone dreams, the weird science of memory, and a brutally honest tour through sex + drugs (boofing Suboxone film, poppers, Whippets/“galaxy gas,” meth, DMT, Quaaludes, coke dick, Hunter Biden-level decadence). They spar on politics without picking teams (meetings in “Trumpy” rooms, why rhetoric isn’t the whole story), react to the Charlie Kirk assassination video, and play a relapse thought experiment (weed→benzos→opiate math vs. “new Research Chemicalss”). They close with Chrome-mags diplomacy drama, a rapid-fire “this or that,” Truenon live show plugs, and Dave’s mural/Patreon notes before the end of another edition of that good old Dopey Show!    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Tease with StephenPublic apologyRecognizing patternsbeing a jerkLSDMore!Hipsters! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Twas a good Dopeycon this year - maybe the last - I wish I had said more - but it was a truly beautiful experience and show. The place was packed - and I am super grateful for all the people who came, participated and sponsored!Special thanks to Mountainside Recovery for being our title sponsor, LICR for taking in Jay, Recovery.com, RELEASE RECOVERY, The Phoenix House, Wellbridge Recovery, Curious Elixers, Cirque Lodge, Redemption Addiction Treatment Centers, Mike's Amazing Mustard, SoBrewed Coffee, Claire Comai, Rachel Hechtman, Katz's Delicatessen, The Great Cormac, Shortbread Society for the Othello, Janie's Life Changing Baked Goods, Shirley Haperin, My Brother in Law and super amazing producer/stage manager Louis Buelli, Kelly Wills from BRAIN FLOWER DESIGN, Dolmar Pedro, Howard 'Beach', Buksbaum, Danny Ameri, Jason Cabello and Recovery Unplugged, Hardest Working Dope Eric Papa Smurf, Dopey Art Director Britta Borgman, My Cousin Ivy, Ginny, Caroline Dowling, Gil Sachs, Ned Van Zandt, Scott Apgar, Dave Goldweitz, Jim Sondow for coming early and Novak's Video guy Isaac - and anyone ive forgotten please send me an email at dopeypodcast@gmail.com. All the folk in the show! (in order of appearance)Adam David, IDGAF FOOD, Kari Nautique, Brandon Novak, Brace Belden, Handsome Evan, Roddy Bottom, Shane Enholm, The Great Ray Brown, My Beautiful  and Brilliant Linda, James Frey,  Hank Azaria, Fentanyl Jay, Lenny from the Beach, Carl Radke, Sam Miller, Alan ManheimSUPER BIG THANKS TO TOM FREY and all the fucking bums from the BEACH! AND MASSIVE SHOUT OUT for all the super dopes who came - you guys are the best - too many to mention but super thanks to MarK F for the record, Jen for the Chocolae and James Glenny for the tireless art and travel!Special thanks to all Facebook Admins/ Dopey Zoom Hosts/ Arists/ musicians, writers and anyone who has been a part of our weird and wild podcast family. It all is very emotional for me. Especially big thanks to Ben and Melannie for helping out wiith Facebook/META and the struggle that is dealing with them and me.Super Special thanks to my family! Linda, susan and Norah for putting up with me through the insanity leading up to dopeycon. And super big thanks to my dad alan for sending me down the long horrible road of addiction that lead to recovery and dopey.Dopeycon is a ton of emotion for me - to see us all come together and have a good time means more than i can share. To hear that Dopey means anything to you is just so special and powerful for me. I know how much it would mean to Chris too. Stay Strong to our brothers and sisters in and out of recovery and fucking toodles for Chris. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis week on the teaser! We recap Dopeycon, I complain about META shutting down the Dopey FB page, we read an email and Doug goes nuts fat shaming me. It's pretty funny - hear the whole thing on patreon! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

dopeycon tix:https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/1765668Patreon:www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastA new kind of Dopey! A kinder, Gentler Dopey? Me and New Yorker Rock Critic, Amanda Petrusich sit down to discuss recovering from grief. Amanda lost her husband suddenly during covid from a random seizure. Hear how Amanda got through it raising their one daughter, Nico alone. Plus some of Amanda's experiences covering Phish, Aerosmith, Nick Drake, Bob Dylan and more!Plus Ben Croxton's shooting story(but not how you think), a horrible kratom death, and me basking in the adulation of being included in Rolling Stone Magazine! Plus a bunch of other stuff - all here!Also More on this Dopeycon Eve's offering of the good old Dopey Show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

im not sure if we actually talk about Keith and Jerry - but we do on the actual epiode at:www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastDopeycon tickets:https://www.tickettailor.com/events/thedopeyfoundation/1765668 Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

This Week on Dopey! We are joined by Oro Recovery Medical Director - Dr. Jason Giles! We also read old comments and hear from a few dopes in the dopey nation. Then Dave interviews Dr.  Giles—twice board-certified in addiction medicine (via ABAM then ABPM), previously board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine, and a recovering opioid addict. He grew up in Santa Monica with a severely alcoholic father, fell into the second-wave ska/mod scene (Vespa, sharkskin suits, amphetamines), dropped out of high school, then clawed his way through community college to Berkeley, volunteering at the Berkeley Free Clinic and falling in love with medicine.He explains anesthesia’s demands (no pain, no memory; muscle relaxants; airway control), the human connection of pediatric anesthesia, and the hope-work of pain management. In 1999, curiosity and stress led him to divert fentanyl: he edited paper records, carried a 2 mL syringe for a month, then IV-used with sterile technique. After a six-week gap he used again, convincing himself he could “handle it.” Use escalated to daily “after work,” leaving him in daytime withdrawal. The department chair paged him about missing fentanyl; instead of punishment, he offered help and a path into California’s 5-year diversion program (treatment, meetings, testing). Giles detoxed cold turkey, went to AA (first meeting mostly doctors), found he wasn’t unique, and built long-term sobriety (nearly 26 years by his telling), learning service and vulnerability through treatment feedback groups.With sobriety he finished residency, married, had a son, worked in cardiac anesthesia and pain, and then moved into addiction treatment (Malibu), where his science and lived experience met the work. He and Dave range widely: purpose/mission as a recovery engine; Bill W., boomerangs and ants; truth-serum myths; Halsted (cocaine→heroin), Freud letters, Hitler’s amphetamines/opioids (book Blitzed), kratom (mixed withdrawal profiles), benzos vs. opiates (benzo withdrawal = fear), intraoperative awareness & memory, Suboxone vs. abstinence (cast/training-wheels framing), fentanyl’s dominance (counterfeit pills; heroin now rare), and whether fentanyl appears in non-opioid street drugs (he says he’s seen it). ALL THAT AND MUCH MORE ON A BRAND NEW EPISODE OF THAT GOD OLD DOPEY SHOW! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

PATREON:www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastDOPEYCON TICKETS:https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/1765668The teaser isn't great but the actual episode is wicked fiah. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/1765668NO INSERTED ADS ON PATREON:www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis week on Dopey! We are joined by old school recovery/addiction legend Johnny Mac! From Queens! But first we learn about Sky Fly in PA, we hear from a benzo addict in the UK and then hear a nice story about Salvia from Loosey in California! Then we get this fuckin Johnny Mac! A 74-year-old New York junkie-turned-AA old-timer, who lays out his wild ride from Woodside Irish Catholic rules to acid-dealing in Ecuador, nodding out on heroin in Queens, and finally finding peace in AA. Johnny talks about his first bag at 16 (while tripping on mushrooms), copping in Bushwick and Harlem, nearly dying on the toilet, watching friends die, and pulling scams from coke hustles to copper wire “mongo.” He tells insane stories from La Perla in Puerto Rico, sneaking bundles on planes, running a Port Authority newsstand, and OD’ing only to chase the same dope the next morning. But through all the chaos, Johnny shares deep reflections on God, spirituality, and why being “stupid enough not to drink and keep showing up” has kept him sober. This one’s pure Dopey gold—equal parts junkie chronicles and spiritual wisdom. All that and more! On the good old dopey show! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/1765668www.patreon.com/dopeypodcastThis week on tuesday teaser! We rejoice at the release and all around greatness that is the Charlie Sheen Netflix show - AKA Charlie Sheen.Then we play a tiny smidge of Luc Zarrato from IG's Marathon2sobriety Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.