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Episode #12: Waging War on the War on Drugs, with Ethan Nadelmann
This week’s guest is drug-policy-reform legend Ethan Nadelmann. Ethan led the charge against the War on Drugs beginning in the 1980s, first as a professor at Princeton and then as the head of the Lindesmith Center (which became the Drug Policy Alliance). He’s published various influential works, including the books Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement and Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations (with Peter Andreas), along with many important articles and even a podcast.
When we write the history of the end (hopefully) of the War on Drugs, Ethan will be right at the center of the narrative. You get a first draft of that story here, plus Ethan’s thoughts on the psychedelic renaissance, building political movements, and much more.
As always, the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
Episode Outline
0:00-4:53: Introduction.
4:53-21:18: The psychedelic renaissance, early life, education, getting into drugs academically, getting sucked into national debates on drugs, the emergence of a new drug-policy-reform era, race and reform, the three branches of drug-policy reform.
21:18-37:22: The late ‘80s drug panic, imagining what legalization might look like, meeting George Soros, conceiving of a new drug-policy center, the Open Society Institute, the Lindesmith Center.
37:22-54:55: Connecting intellectual pursuits to activism, historical precedents for harnessing privilege to lead a reform movement, the influence of Ethan’s rabbi father, challenging the drug warriors in person, learning to love public speaking.
54:55-58:24: Interviewing DEA agents, what they thought about their mission, observing the drug war in action in Latin America, including torture and home detention.
58:24-1:07:16: The Lindesmith Center merges with the Drug Policy Foundation to create the Drug Policy Alliance, working with George Soros, medical marijuana in California (Prop. 215), Peter Lewis, George Zimmer, John Spurling, Chuck Bliss, Ram Dass, other initiatives between 1996 and 2000.
1:07:16-1:19:09: The political scene after 9/11, the first international conference on preventing overdoses (2000), changing political winds, unsuccessful ballot initiatives, building the Drug Policy Alliance, balancing the different constituencies of drug-policy reform, “harm reduction.”
1:19:09-1:34:04: Staying enthusiastic and energized, Ira Glasser, successes in the early 2010s, deciding to retire, the 2016 election.
1:34:04-1:48:12: Looking back on all of the extraordinary change since the 1980s, the keys to a successful moral revolution.
1:48:12-end: Outro.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com
View all episodes
By Isaac CamposThis week’s guest is drug-policy-reform legend Ethan Nadelmann. Ethan led the charge against the War on Drugs beginning in the 1980s, first as a professor at Princeton and then as the head of the Lindesmith Center (which became the Drug Policy Alliance). He’s published various influential works, including the books Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement and Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations (with Peter Andreas), along with many important articles and even a podcast.
When we write the history of the end (hopefully) of the War on Drugs, Ethan will be right at the center of the narrative. You get a first draft of that story here, plus Ethan’s thoughts on the psychedelic renaissance, building political movements, and much more.
As always, the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, Pocketcasts, and the Substack app.
Episode Outline
0:00-4:53: Introduction.
4:53-21:18: The psychedelic renaissance, early life, education, getting into drugs academically, getting sucked into national debates on drugs, the emergence of a new drug-policy-reform era, race and reform, the three branches of drug-policy reform.
21:18-37:22: The late ‘80s drug panic, imagining what legalization might look like, meeting George Soros, conceiving of a new drug-policy center, the Open Society Institute, the Lindesmith Center.
37:22-54:55: Connecting intellectual pursuits to activism, historical precedents for harnessing privilege to lead a reform movement, the influence of Ethan’s rabbi father, challenging the drug warriors in person, learning to love public speaking.
54:55-58:24: Interviewing DEA agents, what they thought about their mission, observing the drug war in action in Latin America, including torture and home detention.
58:24-1:07:16: The Lindesmith Center merges with the Drug Policy Foundation to create the Drug Policy Alliance, working with George Soros, medical marijuana in California (Prop. 215), Peter Lewis, George Zimmer, John Spurling, Chuck Bliss, Ram Dass, other initiatives between 1996 and 2000.
1:07:16-1:19:09: The political scene after 9/11, the first international conference on preventing overdoses (2000), changing political winds, unsuccessful ballot initiatives, building the Drug Policy Alliance, balancing the different constituencies of drug-policy reform, “harm reduction.”
1:19:09-1:34:04: Staying enthusiastic and energized, Ira Glasser, successes in the early 2010s, deciding to retire, the 2016 election.
1:34:04-1:48:12: Looking back on all of the extraordinary change since the 1980s, the keys to a successful moral revolution.
1:48:12-end: Outro.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com