About Lucas Richert

Lucas Richert is an associate professor in the School of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He studies intoxicating substances and the pharmaceutical industry. He also examines the history of mental health.

NBN Episodes hosted by Lucas:

Chris S. Duvall, "The African Roots of Marijuana" (Duke UP, 2019)

January 2, 2024

The African Roots of Marijuana

Chris S. Duvall
Hosted by Lucas Richert

After arriving from South Asia approximately a thousand years ago, cannabis quickly spread throughout the African continent. European accounts of cann…

Erika Dyck, "Psychedelic Prophets: The Letters of Aldous Huxley and Humphry Osmond" (McGill-Queen's UP, 2018)

December 30, 2023

Psychedelic Prophets

Erika Dyck
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Today I talked with historian Erika Dyck about Aldous Huxley, Humphry Osmond and their correspondence over a ten year period. Psychedelic Prophets: Th…

David Courtwright, "The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business" (Harvard UP, 2019)

December 26, 2023

The Age of Addiction

David Courtwright
Hosted by Lucas Richert

We are living in an age of addiction, from compulsive gaming and binge eating to pornography and opioid abuse. Today I talked with historian David Cou…

Kenneth V. Faunce, "Heavy Traffic: The Global Drug Trade in Historical Perspective" (Oxford UP, 2020)

February 17, 2021

Heavy Traffic

Kenneth V. Faunce
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Much of the world's politics revolve around questions about the development of the international market for drugs; the roles merchants, government off…

Haggai Ram, "Intoxicating Zion: A Social History of Hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel" (Stanford UP, 2020)

January 13, 2021

Intoxicating Zion

Haggai Ram
Hosted by Lucas Richert

When European powers carved political borders across the Middle East following World War I, a curious event in the international drug trade occurred: …

M. Newhart and W. Dolphin, "The Medicalization of Marijuana: Legitimacy, Stigma, and the Patient Experience" (Routledge, 2018)

October 26, 2020

The Medicalization of Marijuana

Michelle Newhart and William Dolphin
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Medical marijuana laws have spread across the U.S. to all but a handful of states. Yet, eighty years of social stigma and federal prohibition creates …

Danielle Giffort, "Acid Revival: The Psychedelic Renaissance and the Quest for Medical Legitimacy" (U Minnesota Press, 2020)

August 11, 2020

Acid Revival

Danielle Giffort
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Psychedelic drugs are making a comeback. In the mid-twentieth century, scientists actively studied the potential of drugs like LSD and psilocybin for …

Casey Schwartz, "Attention: A Love Story" (Pantheon, 2020)

June 4, 2020

Attention

Casey Schwartz
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Combining expert storytelling with genuine self-scrutiny, Casey Schwartz details the decade she spend taking Adderall to help her pay attention (or so…

Laurence Monnais, "The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals: Medicines and Modernity in Vietnam" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

May 4, 2020

The Colonial Life of Pharmaceuticals

Laurence Monnais
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Situated at the crossroads between the history of colonialism, of modern Southeast Asia, and of medical pluralism, this history of medicine and health…

Benjamin Breen, "The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2019)

December 26, 2019

The Age of Intoxication

Benjamin Breen
Hosted by Lucas Richert

In Benjamin Breen's The Age of Intoxication: Origins of the Global Drug Trade (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), we are transported back to a t…

Maziyar Ghiabi, "Drug Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of Iran" (Cambridge UP, 2019)

December 9, 2019

Drug Politics

Maziyar Ghiabi
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Iran has one of the planet's highest rates of addiction. Maziyar Ghiabi's Drug Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Cambridge …

Emily Dufton, "Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America" (Basic Books, 2017)

August 30, 2019

Grass Roots

Emily Dufton
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Marijuana. Weed. Cannabis. Pot. Whatever term you use, this intoxicant and medical product leads to long discussions. Emily Dufton visits the podcast …

James Tharin Bradford, "Poppies, Poltics, and Power: Afghanistan and the Global History of Drugs and Diplomacy" (Cornell UP, 2019)

August 13, 2019

Poppies, Politics, and Power

James Tharin Bradford
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Afghanistan and the United States have a complicated relationship. And poppies have often been at the center of the problem between the two countries.…

Mike Jay, "Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychedelic" (Yale UP, 2019)

August 7, 2019

Mescaline

Mike Jay
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Psychedelics are not terribly new. And the drug mescaline is certainly not new. Mike Jay's new book, Mescaline: A Global History of the First Psychede…

Matt Oram, "The Trials of Psychedelic Therapy: LSD Psychotherapy in America" (Johns Hopkins UP, 2018)

August 5, 2019

The Trials of Psychedelic Therapy

Matt Oram
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Are we in the midst of a psychedelic renaissance? If so, what can we learn about the present moment through the history of psychedelic experiments in …

Anthony Ryan Hatch, "Silent Cells: The Secret Drugging of Captive America" (U Minnesota Press, 2019)

July 12, 2019

Silent Cells

Anthony Ryan Hatch
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Over the past forty years, U.S. prisons and jails have used various psychotropic drugs. In this interview, Anthony Ryan Hatch discusses the need to th…

John O'Brien, "States of Intoxication: The Place of Alcohol in Civilisation" (Routledge, 2018)

June 20, 2019

States of Intoxication

John O'Brien
Hosted by Lucas Richert

Is alcohol a universal feature of human society? Why is it problematic in some countries and not others? How was alcohol helped build the modern state…