From 1985-1992, Dr. John Marks managed a clinic where addicted people in parts of England could go to get prescription heroin, cocaine and amphetamine. And just like those who did so before him, and those who came after, he noted improvements in his patients' quality of life and a reduction in their use (and purchase) of street drugs. But in 1992, he was run off by the government when his work gained too much attention, in part by appearing on 60 Minutes and sharing footage of cigarettes spiked ...
Aug 04, 2022•1 hr 5 min•Season 1Ep. 109
The Dr. Junkie Show does not offer medical advice. Set & Setting are important to how we experience the world, including drugs. In today's episode I share a personal story about reducing and stopping my drug use, a project which required a deliberate acknowledgement of set and setting on a daily basis. I talk about Kratom, set and setting, anxiety, sleeplessness (insomnia), withdrawal, and how I stopped using drugs at various times in my life. Read Morgan Godvin's article about getting off k...
Jul 28, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 108
Caffeine (via coffee), alcohol and nicotine (via tobacco) are the top three human-used drugs on Earth. And you are probably familiar with all three. But the fourth most common drug isn't cocaine, heroin or marijuana. Betel Nut is a drug you might not know much about if you don't live in a tropical region. It is the fruit from the Areca catechu, a palm tree that grows wild in humid regions of the globe. The pit of the fruit can be crushed and chewed to instigate a euphoric high. In this episode I...
Jul 17, 2022•19 min•Season 1Ep. 107
For as long as we have been humans, we have loved using drugs, and some of us have struggled with problematic use. Epidemics have come and gone, and with them various stigmas and stereotypes about drug use. By looking closely at those numerous epidemics and how they were handled, we can pinpoint various places for improvement in our current drug policies. On this episode Dr. Carl Erik Fisher joins me to talk about addiction, identity, treatment, recovery and drugs, plus we dig into his new book,...
Jul 04, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 106
In this episode I talk about "poppers," aka "rush"—both nicknames for amyl nitrite (and some additional alkyl nitrites sometimes sold as substitutes). I cover the origins and history of the drug, its current and past uses, methods of ingestion, cultural connections, stigma, and safe use. 🏳️🌈Happy Pride Month🏳️🌈 Music from Pixabay. The Dr. Junkie Show does NOT offer medical advice. Support the show...
Jun 27, 2022•18 min•Season 1Ep. 105
In this episode, Dr. Erin Boyce (aka "The Other Dr. Boyce") joins me to talk about what's going on in the world. We discuss the frequency of mass shootings, the current state of social media, and we draw some lines between current social climates and the war on drugs. We also talk about Capitalistic systems and spaces that violate the rules—like this podcast. We discuss the ongoing January 6th hearings and the insurrection that spurred them, mass shootings, social media, the art of self-deceptio...
Jun 20, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 104
The CDC claims that as many as 1 in 68 children are on the autism spectrum. But that might not mean what you think it means. If you don't have much personal experience with someone on the spectrum (or even if you do), you might not understand what autism is, how it works, or how it impacts addiction. Autism isn't an under-wiring of the brain; it's an overwiring of sorts. And once those of us with it figure out what's going on, it's something that can aid in our success. Support the show...
Jun 12, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 103
The US is on a shrinking list of countries that haven't yet recognized how counterproductive the war on drugs is. As we have continued to kill and arrest drug users, making the problem worse, other countries have seen tremendous results in decriminalization, and in some even legalization and regulation of drugs. In this episode I'll walk through various drug laws and how they work across the world, and I'll explain why legalization with regulation is the best way to address the current drug over...
Jun 03, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 102
In 1994, producer Frank Darabont teamed up with author Stephen King to create their first prison movie, The Shawshank Redemption . It was based on King's short story, "Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption," from his book, Different Seasons: Four Novellas . Despite disappointing sales during its time in theaters, the film would become a cult classic. Nearly 30 years later, it's still frequently rerun on TV. In this episode I unpack the links between what we see on TV and what we come to bel...
May 26, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 101
In the episode, I talk about the police. And while I'm at it, I talk about the United States. Follow the links to learn more... ...about Duterte's war on drugs and his daughter's political career which looks to carry on his legacy. ....about Biden's current and past stance on drugs . ...from bell hooks talking about violence as an expression of masculinity in her book Feminism is for Everybody. ...about Safe Use Sites in my piece in Westword. Support the show...
May 19, 2022•23 min•Season 1Ep. 100
In this episode I talk about the biological, social and cultural consequences of punishing addiction, a counterproductive habit that's become so normalized in the US that many of us can't imagine doing things any other way. But as the data make clear, the best way to get people to stop using drugs is to get them to want to stop using drugs. And the best way to get them to want to stop is to just give them their drugs and stick around until (or if) they want to reduce or halt their use. Addiction...
Apr 25, 2022•22 min•Season 1Ep. 99
We humans have learned a lot about drugs from experimenting on rats. In this episode I discuss the findings of those experiments, and I show (yet again) that the war on drugs is designed in a way that ensures as many people as possible will struggle with addiction, and that their addictions will be as bad as they could possibly be. We couldn't design a less effective system if we tried (and I do in this episode). To read more about the mechanisms of dopamine's action and how dopamine aids in the...
Apr 17, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 98
It isn't just PSAs with our brains as a fried egg. Sometimes it's Euphoria's Mouse, a Latino drug dealer with face tattoos who forces a young girl to take fentanyl at knifepoint. Other times it's reruns of Robert Downey Jr. in Less than Zero, or Tupac and Tim Roth in Gridlock'd —characters suffering the predictable consequences of using heroin in the movies: their lives falling apart. But always on our televisions we are given a single story about drugs and those who use & sell them: failure...
Apr 07, 2022•27 min•Season 1Ep. 97
Marshall McLuhan famously said "The medium is the message." That's where we begin this week. You have probably seen the headlines in recent weeks, "Philadelphia drug supply polluted with Veterinary Tranquilizer." As our self-created "opioid epidemic" continues, we can expect similar drugs to pop up, boogie men for the government and the press to blame for a problem which is designed into the system. Xylazine is a sedative drug which is an analogue (synthesized version) of Clonidine. It can be pu...
Mar 21, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 96
Ketamine, also known as Special K, is a drug that has only been on Earth for slightly longer than I have, and in that time we've seen an incredible cultural shift in how it's viewed. Where Special K was once a dangerous street drug kids were using to get high, now Ketamine treatment is the frontier of antidepression therapy, the first of what will probably be many glutamate inhibiting drugs. This week I talk about Ketamine, what it is, how it works, where it comes from, and why it appears to out...
Mar 15, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 95
Last month HBO's drug-fueled hit Euphoria wrapped up season 2 with a bang. And my living room had a few lively days of discussion following the short season. So instead of doing the review alone this year, I invited my fabulous partner, Dr. Erin Boyce, to join me. We talk about Jules, Rue, Nate & Fezco's violence, drug dealers and the stereotypes surrounding them, plus what we think they got right this season. We hit on tropes of good and bad parents, dialectical tension on screen, and stere...
Mar 08, 2022•59 min•Season 1Ep. 94
In the 1990s we called it Hippie Crack. In the early 2000s we called them Party Balloons. Today the kids call them crackers or whippets. They are all the same things: Nitrous Oxide, aka "laughing gas" that your dentist might offer you for a particularly painful procedure. In this episode I discuss the history of Nitrous Oxide (N2O), its medical applications, its illegal use, plus the dangers associated with the drug, which (as usual) are mostly related to the war on drugs, not the drug itself. T...
Mar 01, 2022•20 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Portugal decriminalized all drugs more than 20 years ago, in 2001. In this episode, I share my thoughts on Portugal's drug policy and I explain how it works: the good, the bad, and the not-yet-finished. Portugal's decriminalization efforts have lowered overall drug use rates by almost 75% and greatly reduced the most dangerous types of drug use through education and (barebones) compassion. I also discuss Methadone Vans, a new trend in the US which Portugal began using long ago to curb heroin add...
Feb 22, 2022•24 min•Season 1Ep. 92
Captured Words/Free Thoughts is a non-profit publication dedicated to sharing poetry and artwork inspired behind prison bars. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this edition, both in submissions and in recording audio to bring these pieces back to life. Guest Speakers: Meghan Cosgrove, Dr. Erin Boyce, Dr. Stephen Hartnett, Dr. Bill Yousman and students from CU-Denver's "Communication, Prison & Social Justice" class. Contributors "Many Goodbyes," by Michael Owens "I Pick up my Pen," by Ojo...
Feb 15, 2022•53 min•Season 1Ep. 91
You can watch the video version of this episode, complete with slides and visuals, at YouTube . If you have ever wondered what it is like to sit in a classroom where I am teaching, this is the episode for you. The audio is from a guest lecture I gave at a local college. I managed to cover a lot: tolerance, sensitization, dopamine, the thrill of the hunt and the thrill of the feast, liking versus wanting, pruning during adolescence, the price of cocaine production versus the price on the streets,...
Feb 10, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 90
Know someone inside prison who makes art? Want to strike up a relationship with an artist in prison? Just want to get involved in a great organization helping incarcerated artists get their work out there? This is the episode for you. The Justice Arts Coalition is a nonprofit organization that works to unite activist, incarcerated people and educators seeking to create and share art created inside prisons. This week the organization's founder Wendy Jason joins me to talk about art, prison, colla...
Feb 06, 2022•42 min•Season 1Ep. 89
Getting out of prison is overwhelming. There are people who can help. Remerg is a non profit organization that can help with anything you might need or want to know during that process of reentry. Founder Carol Peeples and director of communications Roohallah Mobarez join me this week to talk about reentry after incarceration, ways to prepare, and organizations that can help. You can check out Remerg's Youtube page, or their websites Remerg.org and Remerg.com You can also call the Remerg hotline...
Feb 02, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 88
The Dr. Junkie show does not offer medical advice. In this episode I take another shot at describing how cocaine works in the body. I talk about where it comes from and how it's produced, why it is so extreme in its effects, and how we can regulate and decriminalize it to put all illegal drug dealers out of business overnight. Plus, I discuss sleep cycles and why they are so important, Sigmund Freud's dark outlook on life and why we can thank cocaine for his conclusions, what happens when we mix...
Jan 24, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 87
Neuroscientist Dr. Judith Grisel joins me to talk about mechanisms of addiction and why we can't stay high forever. We also discuss antiopioids, trends in drug use, tolerance, sensitization, how to talk to kids about drugs, and why youth is both the most common and most dangerous time to become addicted to drugs. Plus we cover how drugs work in the brain, how cannabinoids might actually be a neural marker of important memories, cocaine's action in the synapse, the neurology of opioid and alcohol...
Jan 17, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 86
Feminist scholar bell hooks passed away in late 2021, leaving behind a legacy that will outlive her by generations. She taught us what feminism is and why we should not be afraid of it. She explained why media (music, TV, film, etc.) teaches us things about the world without us realizing we have learned anything. She reminded us that rap music is not a reflection of black life in the United States, but a capitalistic product purchased by mostly white, mostly middleclass kids who recognize someth...
Jan 10, 2022•55 min•Season 1Ep. 85
In this episode, I take you along on my first experience of injecting heroin. Rituals of use are a big part of addiction. They have increasingly become the focus of both addiction researchers and treatment providers. When we do something that makes us feel better (take a drug, place a bet, make a move, hit the gas, take a trip, etc.), we begin to feel the effects of that action before we actually do it. And the more we do it, the earlier and more intense our feelings become. Injecting drugs is a...
Jan 02, 2022•26 min•Season 1Ep. 84
The United States is obsessed with policing drugs and those who use them, yet the most deadly, well-studied drug in existence, nicotine, is a regulated product, legal to buy once a consumer is 21 years old. According to the WHO, tobacco, when used properly, will kill half of all people who don't stop using it. And because cigarettes are so obviously dangerous yet still widely distributed and glamorized, they hold a clue to our human condition. The story of cigarettes is the story of media. In th...
Dec 27, 2021•38 min•Season 1Ep. 83
I have recently received so many questions about the book that I thought I would spend an episode talking about it. Dr. Junkie: One Man's Story of Addiction and Crime that will Challenge Everything you Know about the War on Drugs is available on Amazon and Barnes & Nobel. This autobiographical account of addiction and crime in the United States reveals the design-flaws of the current War on Drugs, which has consistently failed to focus on the things citizens should want prioritized, like sav...
Dec 18, 2021•32 min•Season 1Ep. 82
In this episode, I explain what it is like to teach college classes in a correctional facility. And I focus on one of my favorite academics and authors, bell hooks, who anchors our classroom discussions about feminism, an idea that many of us have totally misunderstood. I cover the "feminist waves," how media impacts our beliefs, and why many of us think feminism is something very different than what it is. Working as a prison educator is the most fulfilling job I have ever had. When we are thro...
Dec 08, 2021•34 min•Season 1Ep. 81
What is the difference between medical cannabis and recreational marijuana? Is it a good idea to get your medical card even if you live in a state where Marijuana is legal? How about research: have they started applying the scientific method to this plant? It would be so great to know someone who you can just ask about these things. Luckily, I do know someone. Her name is Katie Sullivan. Katie is the operator and founder of Modern Compassionate Care, an affordable company offering various servic...
Nov 29, 2021•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 80
