149: How Big Pharma Ruined it for Everyone

This week is about the evolution of drugs and the role of big pharma (#Capitalism) in creating and exploding the war on drugs.

From Cannabis to Marinol to Spice/K2...
From coca leaves to cocaine to crack...
From willow tree bark to Aspirin to Ibuprofen...
From eucalyptus to amphetamine to methamphetamine to Adderall...
From PCP to Ketamine...
From tea to barbiturates to benzos to SSRIs to glutamate drugs...
From beer and wine to spirits and liquor....
Something capitalistic has been driving our addictions. This isn't natural.

This week I get back to the roots of the show: drugs. I discuss the evolution of drugs via capitalism, and the reason the drugs we used to take decades (and centuries) ago were natural, and, as such, safer and less addictive than the drugs we usually take today. Those old-school, natural drugs are now hard to find, replaced by more potent, cheaper, synthetic chemicals that can be patented by big pharma then shoved down our throats. Cocaine replaced coca leaves only to be replaced itself by methamphetamine. Heroin replaced opium gum only to be replaced itself by fentanyl(s). Cannabis was replaced by...35% THC Cannabis in the early 2000s only to be replaced by synthetic cannabis (Spice, K2).

Article with Jacob Carlock: Crafting Convict Criminologists: An Invitation to Join us in Prison available in The Prison Journal.

Episode 112: The Opium Wars

Read more about David Carrillo here: https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/04/11/david-carrillo-continues-to-teach-incarcarated-students-college-classes/

Read more about the Returning Artists Guild (RAG) here: https://thereturningartistsguild.org/

Read Captured Words/Free Thoughts here: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/communication/research-creative-work/captured-words-free-thoughts

Drop me an email at DrJunkieShow@gmail.com.