Episodes

  • S2E9: The Birth of the Modern Opioid Crisis

    S2E9: The Birth of the Modern Opioid Crisis
    Jan 16 2025
    The ongoing opioid crisis is something many are all too familiar with. But back in the early nineties, it had yet to even exist. This episode delves into the dawn of an epidemic that continues to this day.
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    1 hr and 29 mins
  • S2E8: The Cocaine Boom

    S2E8: The Cocaine Boom
    Dec 6 2024
    In this episode, explore the rise of cocaine's popularity in the 1970s, the traffickers involved in moving that product, and the controversies regarding the counternarcotic policies set into action at this time.
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    1 hr and 20 mins
  • S2E7: The Dawn of the War on Drugs

    S2E7: The Dawn of the War on Drugs
    Nov 28 2024
    In this episode, explore the history of substance use in a Post War America, the origins of the French Connection, and the leaders behind some of the most impactful drug policies the United States has ever seen.
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    1 hr and 1 min
  • S2E6: The Origins of Cross Border Smuggling in North America

    S2E6: The Origins of Cross Border Smuggling in North America
    Nov 21 2024
    For over a hundred years now, the Mexico-U.S. border has been home to the smuggling of all sorts of psychoactive substances. This episode explores the birth of this century long phenomenon and how the actions of decades past continue to affect us to this day.
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    1 hr and 29 mins
  • S2E5: The U.S. Goes Synthetic

    S2E5: The U.S. Goes Synthetic
    Nov 14 2024
    The United States has had a long, complicated history with opioids. This episode explores the origins of this relationship which began in the midst of the Civil War, and how, over a century later, we are still aeffected by the policies and perspectives of the past.
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    59 mins
  • S2E4: A Brief History of Psychoactive Substances in Mexico

    S2E4: A Brief History of Psychoactive Substances in Mexico
    Oct 31 2024
    Before the Mexico-United States border became one of the main hubs for drug trafficking in the world, it had to exist in the first place. This episode dives into both how the country of Mexico itself was formed, and the ways psychoactive substance use in this land evlolved and changed along the way.
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    27 mins
  • S2E3: When the U.S. Was Its Drunkest

    S2E3: When the U.S. Was Its Drunkest
    Oct 24 2024
    Following the American Revolution, the United States struggled to import a regular supply of liquor. Rather than slow down consumption, this era birthed an explosion in the country's whiskey industry and soon led to the heaviest drinking period in American history.
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    48 mins
  • S2E2: The Commodification of Narcotics

    S2E2: The Commodification of Narcotics
    Oct 17 2024
    Psychoactive substances have been used by humans for thousands and thousands of years, but their time as a marketable product came about fairly recently. The second episode of season two dives into this history and the ways certain substances were integral to the growth of European colonies across the Americas.
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    55 mins