Category Archives: Podcast Episodes

Bonus Episode 1 – Unionizing Harm Reduction w/ Jacob Clary

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In our first bonus episode, Alex is joined by Jacob Clary to discuss the labour movement, harm reduction and unionization. Jacob is a union member at a harm reduction org in NY state, and discusses the need to “understand harm reduction as a workforce to be organized”.

We are releasing the bonus episode today in solidarity with OnPoint United! See here: https://twitter.com/OnPointUnited/status/1600830049791483905

If you want to get in touch with Jacob about unionizing your own harm reduction organization, or just think he’s cool you can reach him on twitter at @acabdotgov

In solidarity with all harm reduction workers fighting to unionize!

 

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7 From Just Coca to Crack Vapes

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“”Pharmability”, the feasibility to refine materials to drugs by chemical synthesis, purification etc.” – Fabian Steinmetz & Maja Kohek

What would it take to grow enough opium poppies for heroin, or coca? Further, how could this be done in an equitable way, recognizing that colonialism is at the heart of the drug war? Fabian is one of several researchers and activists working on these questions. When we initially invited Fabian to come on the podcast, we had hoped to talk about his publication exploring the feasibility and harm reduction merits of developing a vape for freebase cocaine (crack). What we soon learned is that Fabian, like many old school activists, has his hand in many projects. From kratom regulation to psychedelic reform to creating an equitable and non-exploitive coca market.

Fabian, a toxicologist by trade, sees a future drug world & is actively imagining what a future drug world could be.

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

[1] Farmability and pharmability: Transforming the drug market to a health-and human rights-centred approach from self-cultivation to safe supply of controlled substances 

[2] The cocaine-e-cigarette – A theoretical concept of a harm reduction device for current users of smokable cocaine forms – Fabian P Steinmetz, Heino Stöver, 2021

[3] How to regulate stimulants: A practical guide | Transform 

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6 Hormonic Resonances

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“You can’t crush ideas by suppressing them. You can only crush them by ignoring them. By refusing to think, refusing to change.” – Ursula K. LeGuin, “The Dispossessed” 

*we highly recommend you read Adryan’s article before listening*

https://filtermag.org/testosterone-criminalization/ <- yeah that one

Testosterone was criminalized in the United States in response to its use by cis men in sports. The result for trans people has been urine screenings, being outed to police and anyone else who has access to the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMPs). Trans & gender non-conforming people were not considered in this legislation and their absence from the conversation is just another example of transphobia. 

In Adryan’s article for filter mag, they point out that, “Gender variant people should be more than acknowledged in drug policy reform; we should be prioritized”. What would that look like, and what sort of futures would it create? 

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

[1] Adryan’s article: https://filtermag.org/testosterone-criminalization/
[2] Lancet Opioid Crisis Commission https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02252-2/fulltext
[3] Framing Agnes: https://www.cbc.ca/arts/the-extraordinary-new-film-framing-agnes-interrogates-how-trans-stories-are-told-and-by-whom-1.6330162

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5 Sexy Space Drugs in Post-Prohibitionist Afro Futurisms

Podcast Episodes

“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time” – Angela Davis

In this episode we get high on alien drugs in a totally sexy way with Mallory Culbert. Mallory is a tech wiz, artist, drug policy activist and the author of Joyeux #1 & 2. She imagines other possible futures, Afro-futures and how harm reduction weaves into not just what we are but could be. Joyeux #1 is an aesthetic masterpiece, and explores drug afrofutures, by reorienting how we see the past.

Find out what the new drugs of the future will be, and remember, “Another World is Possible”

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

CN: Discussion of sexual assault, gendered violence of the drug war, colonialism, inequality, rape culture

[1] Joyeux #1 – Mallory Cullbert

[2] Silencing the Past – Michel Rolph Trouillot (psst there’s an audiobook version)

[3] Johnson & Johnson Vaccine & Colonialism (vid goes through the history, but stops at actually working through the problem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMY4UOA7E_w&ab_channel=JohnnyHarris

[4] Medical testing in Africa (and why it’s colonial): https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/4/8/medical-colonialism-in-africa-is-not-new 

[4] “Rabbit Test”: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_test

[5] “science fiction to science fact” see Donna Haraway’s – Staying with the Trouble

[6] JOYEUX #2 (thanks Mallory for making it available): https://drive.google.com/file/d/14ZKdzjjFv9SsXkSmAmBaLB0eEJ2rBnkJ/view?usp=sharing

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4 Breakfast in Latin America Part I

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“Who believes today that the war on drug trafficking is achieving victories? Quite the opposite. It’s been a resounding failure” – Juan Ramón Quintana, MAS Minister of the Presidency under Evo Morales

*We will now be putting content notes at the bottom of every episode. Check there for trigger warnings*

The War on Drugs takes place on multiple battlefields. It is a Global War and a true Forever War. Yet, the ways that it is fought, and the damage it leaves in its wake is different wherever you go. To have a another drug future, a better drug future, means imagining the multiple and sometimes incommensurable futures that can uplift us all. The only way to do that is together, and the only way we can start is by being in conversation with each other.

That’s why, over the next several months, we will be interviewing Latin American drug policy and harm reduction activists. Our first two, are Latin America Network of People who use Drugs (LANPUD) activists, Ernesto Cortes of ACEID and Marialba Quesada Abrams of LPSD and a Youth RISE International Working Group Member. Ernesto & Marialba are both from Costa Rica, both anthropologists, and both activists looking to not only interpret the world, but to change it. We will be doing one-on-one episodes with both of them, as well as Marisa Morales from LPSD and is based out of Mexico. We hope to keep doing even more!

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

CN: Discussion of sexual assault, gendered violence of the drug war, colonialism, inequality, rape culture

[1] Source for quote above https://jacobinmag.com/2021/11/us-war-on-drugs-dea-bolivian-democracy-coup-morales-quintana-interview

[2] On Canna-colonialism, Dawn Paley https://towardfreedom.org/story/canadas-cannabis-colonialism/

[3] “The Troubles of Medical Cannabis in Colombia” https://www.tni.org/files/publication-downloads/policybrief_52_eng_web.pdf

[4] The Dope: The Real History of the Mexican Drug Trade (pssst there’s an audiobook) https://newbooksnetwork.com/the-dope

[6] You can check out the readings we did for this episode: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xxfpeslxhvpuzpw/AABVJ9NcyXIswAG6sQnk_L7qa?dl=0

[7] Go like ACEID & LPSD, also check out Ernesto’s writing on the topic here: https://www.tni.org/en/smokable-cocaine

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3.5 Looking Back to the Future

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“The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?” – Doc Brown, Back to the Future

Clarie & Alex take a moment to talk about the previous episodes, what’s been going on. As well as some weird. We unpack some of our conversations with people, talk about Stargate SG-1, how history shapes our sense of what is possible, and who we’d want to have on next.

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

Notes: 

[1] We highly recommend you look through some of these readings for our upcoming talks with Latin American activists: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/xxfpeslxhvpuzpw/AABVJ9NcyXIswAG6sQnk_L7qa?dl=0

[2] We reference this thought-provoking piece on Anarchist Responses to HIV & Hep C: https://anarchiststudies.org/thoughts-on-an-anarchist-response-to-hepatitis-c-hiv-by-alexander-mcclelland-zoe-dodd/ 

[3] Karen Ward Twitter thread on non-medicalized safe supply futures in BC: ​​https://twitter.com/kwardvancouver/status/1451033912847724545

[4]Claire’s paper on Isotonitazene (feel free to DM or email Claire/Drug Futurisms for a copy if behind paywall) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395920302784?via%3Dihub 

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3 Uprooting Prohibited Futures w/ Garth Mullins

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“What is the future we dream of? It is tearing up the drug war by the root. And to me, the roots are in capitalism” – Garth Mullins

One person’s now is another person’s future. In times of crisis making the future becomes necessary. In 2013, it would have seemed incredibly unlikely that Canada would legalize cannabis. Now in 2021, drug policy activists in Vancouver, including Garth Mullins, have been involved in providing an alternative drug supply of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine, through a co-operative model in Vancouver.

We go off the rails and into outer space this episode. We talk about drugs, past, present, and of course, future. Sci-Fi writer, Ursula Le Guin once said that, “Science fiction is not predictive; it is descriptive. Predictions are uttered by prophets…” and so to does our conversation, embody the now, and the now so far off in the distant.
We experiment with a new theme for the show, “Would you do this drug?”

Edited by Marcel Rambo
Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

Notes:
[1] Mark Fisher (2009) Capitalist Realism
[2] We reference Silvia Federici’s interview on The Dig https://www.thedigradio.com/podcast/silvia-federici-on-women-and-capitalism/
[3] Learn more about the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) https://www.dulf.ca/
[4] Kim Stanley Robinson’s “Mars Trilogy” is a series of future-thinking socialist fiction

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2 Experimenting to the Future w/ Sheila Vakharia

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“Harm reduction is a dynamic response to a fundamentally hostile world … a strategy of resistance that at its best can build justice and is love.” – Karen Ward*

 

“Meet people where they’re at”, is easy to say but hard to do. It is the root of harm reduction, where our ability to imagine a better future comes from. But, what does that mean for treatment? Sheila Vakharia has witnessed first hand the punitive nature of our currently existing treatment. Now working to support the imaginings of an abolitionist social work, Dr. Sheila Vakharia, the Deputy Director of the Department of Research and Academic Engagement for the Drug Policy Alliance, comes on the Drug Futurisms Podcast to explore another possible world where treatment does not resemble a prison, but a space of care.

 

Treatment like prison was a reform. Unlike prisons, however, people need access to be supported, “treatment” in the sense to be treated well, treated with support, and given the space to treat their pain, on their own terms. 

 

Edited by Marcel Rambo

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

Show Notes:

*Quote from Vancouver activist Karen Ward: https://twitter.com/kwardvancouver/status/1292667853091426304 

[1] We reference a few times Mariame Kaba’s (2020) “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice” by Haymarket Books

[2] Sheila Vakharia and Shira Hassan talk, “Harm Reduction, Abolition and Social Work”, here: https://youtu.be/_iFwX_Jzunk

[3] Carstairs Catherine (2006) book is “Jailed For Possession” – which references the history of the abolition of the RCMP in the 1920s

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1 The Dose Makes the Future w/ Ryan Marino

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“The dose makes the poison” – Paracelsus (Father of Toxicology)

 

To get to a different future we not only have to imagine what could be, but help others see what is. Few have spent more time busting the myths of the present and the past as Ryan Marino (@RyanMarino), an Emergency medical toxicologist who takes the ambivalence at the root of the word, “toxicologist” seriously, he has spent years online, and elsewhere busting myths surrounding fentanyl & naloxone in the United States. Recently he was interviewed in the New York Times when a police officer had a panic attack that was attributed as a fentanyl overdose.

 

Claire & Alex talk with Ryan about the future he would like to see drug policy go in the US and beyond, as well as about why he keeps “toxic” plants, and what we can learn about the ambivalence between poison and medicine when we think about dose.
Edited by Marcel Rambo

 

Help us imagine better drug futures by having a conversation with a friend, sharing the podcast or supporting us at patreon.com/DrugFuturisms

Notes:
New York Times article on the San Diego Police Department: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/07/us/san-diego-police-overdose-fentanyl.html
William James – the Nitrous Philosopher: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/05/the-nitrous-oxide-philosopher/376581/
G. Henderson (1988), on “Designer Drugs” and the potential for fentanyl to replace heroin, https://erowid.org/archive/rhodium/chemistry/designer.drugs.history.html
Alex Stevens & Fiona Measham (2014) “The ‘drug policy ratchet’: why do sanctions for new psychoactive drugs typically only go up?” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/add.12406

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