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Drugs, Addiction and Recovery
Public Health August 11, 2022

Big Vape

The Incendiary Rise of Juul

Jamie Ducharme

Hosted by Caleb Zakarin
It began with a smoke break. James Monsees and Adam Bowen were two ambitious graduate students at Stanford, and in between puffs after class they dreamed of a way to …

Drugs, Addiction and Recovery

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Interviews with scholars of drugs, addiction and recovery about their new books.

Drugs, Addiction and Recovery August 10, 2022

Heroin

An Illustrated History

Susan C. Boyd

Hosted by Jay Shifman
Dr. Susan Boyd is a scholar/activist and Distinguished Professor emerita at the University of Victoria. Her research examines a variety of topics related to the history of drug prohibition and …
Popular Culture August 8, 2022

A Woman's Place Is in the Brewhouse

A Forgotten History of Alewives, Brewsters, Witches, and Ceos

Tara Nurin

Hosted by Rebekah Buchanan
Tara Nurin explores women in all aspects of the brewing industry in A Women's Place is in the Brewhouse (Chicago Review Press, 2021). Women have brewed beer throughout most of human history. Their …
Indian Religions July 7, 2022

Botanical Ecstasies

Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond

Matthew Clark

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
In Botanical Ecstasies: Psychoactive Plant Formulas in India and Beyond, Dr Matthew Clark proposes that soma/hoama is instead an ayahuasca-like plant complex made from many different species. He discusses a …
High Theory July 5, 2022

Legal Regulation of Drugs

A Discussion with Carl Hart

Carl Hart

Hosted by Kim Adams and Saronik Bosu
Carl Hart speaks with Kim about America’s punitive drug laws, and how we might change them for the better. He argues that we should legalize and regulate the sale of …
National Security June 30, 2022

Ports, Crime and Security

Governing and Policing Seaports in a Changing World

Anna Sergi, Alexandria Reid, Luca Storti, and Marleen Easton

Hosted by Geert Slabbekoorn
The COVID-19 pandemic, Brexit and the US-China trade dispute have  heightened interest in the geopolitics and security of modern ports.  Ports are where contemporary societal dilemmas converge: the (de)regulation of international …
Economics June 7, 2022

Can Legal Weed Win?

The Blunt Realities of Cannabis Economics

Robin Goldstein and Daniel Sumner

Hosted by John Emrich
Cannabis "legalization" hasn't lived up to the hype. Across North America, investors are reeling, tax collections are below projections, and people are pointing fingers. On the business side, companies have …
Anthropology June 3, 2022

Chemical Heroes

Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the US Military

Andrew Bickford

Hosted by Jolon Timms
In Chemical Heroes: Pharmacological Supersoldiers in the US Military (Duke UP, 2021), Andrew Bickford analyzes the US military's attempts to design performance enhancement technologies and create pharmacological "supersoldiers" capable of withstanding …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery May 24, 2022

Marijuana on My Mind

The Science and Mystique of Cannabis

Timmen Cermak

Hosted by Steve Beitler
Few substances have been researched as extensively, and debated as fiercely, as cannabis. In Marijuana on My Mind: The Science and Mystique of Cannabis (Cambridge University Press, 2022), psychiatrist Timmen …
On Religion May 12, 2022

On Addiction and Spirituality

A Discussion with Chris Grosso

Chris Grosso

Hosted by Gregory Soden
Chris Grosso is a youth mental health group facilitator with Newport Academy, public speaker, writer, and author of Indie Spiritualist (Beyond Words/Simon & Schuster, 2014), Everything Mind (Sounds True, 2105) …
Science, Technology, and Society April 28, 2022

Silent Cells

The Secret Drugging of Captive America

Anthony Hatch

Hosted by Laura Stark
It’s no secret that the United States has the most expansive prison system of any nation in the world. And the US carceral system overwhelmingly and unjustly impacts Black and …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery April 15, 2022

Undoing Drugs

The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction

Maia Szalavitz

Hosted by Steve Beitler
Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction and the Future of Addiction (Hachette Go, 2021) tells a long-running, but largely unknown, story of how a few people and groups – …
The Future of . . . with Owen Bennett-Jones April 12, 2022

The Future of Life Expectancy

A Discussion with Angus Deaton

Angus Deaton

Hosted by Owen Bennett-Jones
In 2015, Professor Angus Deaton of Princeton University and his wife Professor Anne Case published a paper highlighting the rising mortality rate among middle-aged white non-Hispanic Americans. They described "deaths …
Policing, Incarceration, and Reform April 8, 2022

The Punishment Imperative

The Rise and Failure of Mass Incarceration in America

Todd R. Clear and Natasha A. Frost

Hosted by Zalman Newfield
Over the last 40 years, the US penal system has grown at an unprecedented rate―five times larger than in the past and grossly out of scale with the rest of …
Intellectual History March 16, 2022

The Urge

Our History of Addiction

Carl Erik Fisher

Hosted by Thomas Kingston
Even after a decades-long opioid overdose crisis, intense controversy still rages over the fundamental nature of addiction and the best way to treat it. With uncommon empathy and erudition, Carl …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery March 10, 2022

Dead Weight

A Memoir in Essays

Randall Horton

Hosted by Jay Shifman
Dead Weight: A Memoir in Essays (Northwestern UP, 2022) chronicles the improbable turnaround of a drug smuggler who, after being sentenced to eight years in state prison, returned to society to …
Indian Religions March 3, 2022

An Unholy Brew

Alcohol in Indian Religion and History

James McHugh

Hosted by Raj Balkaran
The first book on alcohol in pre-modern India, James McHugh's An Unholy Brew: Alcohol in Indian Religion and History (Oxford UP, 2021) uses a wide range of sources from the …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery March 3, 2022

Beyond the Narrow Life

A Guide to Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration

Kile M. Ortigo

Hosted by Steve Beitler
Kile M. Ortigo's Beyond the Narrow Life: A Guide to Psychedelic Integration and Existential Exploration (Synergetic Press, 2021) addresses major issues that arise from the psychospiritual and therapeutic use of …
Psychology February 16, 2022

The Urge

Our History of Addiction

Carl Erik Fisher

Hosted by Yael Schonbrun
According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, since 2000, the United States has experienced over 700,000 deaths due to drug overdose. Addiction and substance use disorders are at …
Drugs, Addiction and Recovery February 7, 2022

Fentanyl, Inc.

How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic

Ben Westhoff

Hosted by Emily Dufton
Ben Westhoff is an award-winning investigative journalist whose best-selling 2019 book Fentanyl, Inc.: How Rogue Chemists Are Creating the Deadliest Wave of the Opioid Epidemic (Grove Press, 2019), was one of the …