When we started this blog late in 2018, it was primarily because members of our community wanted to know what their friends were reading, watching, and listening to in order to become better educated on drug policy, public health, the overdose crisis, and community organizing.
The blog began as a sort of repository for the cataloging of resources. We are picking this initial concept back up today with a wide-ranging list of podcasts, each coming highly recommended by IHRC volunteers, staff, board members, and participants. We hope you’ll dig this group of podcasts for your commute to work, time on the treadmill, relaxation time before bed, etc. Listen wherever you download podcasts: Apple Music, apple podcast app, and beyond.
A labor of love of three leading drug policy journalists, this podcast asks big, nuanced drug market questions, and celebrates the work of harm reduction experts from around the country. Produced and recorded by Christopher Moraff, Zachary Siegel, and Troy Farah, the episodes are well produced, smart conversations on critical questions about the drug war that have implications right now. For example: why are heroin and meth and cocaine and crack suddenly contaminated with varying amounts of fentanyl? What is the market-based logic for the insertion of fentanyl into the drug supply? Is the presence of fentanyl in stimulants an accident, and if so, why are fentanyl markets so variable from one neighborhood to another? With episodes that range from the history of traditional agriculture in Afghanistan and Columbia to the FDA’s regulation of Kratom and the DOJ’s response to supervised consumption spaces, Narcotica is a uniquely smart piece of reporting.
– Recommended by Tiffany C.
Prohibited is a newer podcast that debuted early in 2019 and reports on of the moment drug policy news stories, as well older and evolving stories related to the global and domestic production, selling, and consumption of drugs. Recent guests include national harm reduction experts (like our friends at Bmore Power!) discussing local campaigns for safe consumption space legalization and the DOJ; leaders from the campaign to legalize psychedelics in Colorado; individuals involved in the creation of the Silk Road; historians well versed in the time course of US alcohol prohibition; and policy experts working to understand the technicalities of DC’s cannabis regulation. Overall, the podcast explores the viewpoints of those who look to dismantle drug prohibition and those who work to perpetuate the war on drugs.
– Recommended by Joe Z.
Hosted and Produced by Kate Werning, this is a beautiful podcast that explores the intersections of collective healing and social change. The podcast is inspiring, brilliant, and thought provoking, giving the listener a broad set of foundational skills in movement work, reflection, self care, campaign development / leadership, trauma healing, gratitude, vulnerability, and white supremacy. Frequented by regular guest Adrienne Marie Brown, the podcast draws heavily in tone, philosophy, and vibe from her books Emergent Strategy and Pleasure Activism. Episodes include interviews, exercises, lectures, and practices for both folks who are brand new to the concept of healing justice and folks who have decades of familiarity.
– Recommended by Sarah Z.
In production from 2015 – March 2018, this podcast focuses on science, culture, and all things in-between. Produced by Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP), this podcast is unique in its coverage of of the moment drug policy news updates.
Drugs and Stuff is the Drug Policy Alliance’s semi-regular podcast. DPA is the nation’s leading organization working to end the war on drugs. DPA focusES on legalizing marijuana; criminal justice reform and ending draconian prison sentences for drugs; harm reduction policies that prevent overdoses and save lives; and we educate the public about drugs while dispelling popular myths and misinformation.
6. In Sickness and in Health – Season 2
The second season of In Sickness and In Health is a Who’s Who in harm reduction. The season dives into the “opioid crisis” and in working to unpack the drivers of the modern overdose epidemic. The producers interview many guests who work as street-based outreach workers, researchers, policy makers, and public health experts, working episode by episode to trace the origins of the crisis and interrogate potential solutions. While some of the topics explored in this podcast may not be particularly stimulating for many who work in drug policy and harm reduction, each episode features stellar guest interviewees. Topics examined include the Scott County, IN HIV outbreak and subsequent SSP implementation; Neo-natal abstinence syndrome; the brain disease model of addiction vs. other competing neurological models for explaining chaotic drug use; adverse childhood experiences and their relationship to opioid use later in life. Of all the podcasts we recommend, this one may the most well produced by a long shot.
– Recommended by Nick.
The official podcast of the Journal of Addiction Medicine, this podcast is produced by ASAM and draws from recent journal publications in order to disseminate evidence-based public health and health care research findings quickly. Episodes are short, to the point, and focus primarily on human services and health care issues, rather than emphasizing new research findings emerging from the basic sciences or physiology.
