A temple stands empty after a drug raid. Robes folded. Bowls untouched. Silence where chanting once lived.

This episode begins inside that abandoned sanctuary, then follows the trail outward to the Golden Triangle, spanning Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar, where much of the region’s methamphetamine originates.

From there, we step back into medieval Europe, where monks brewed and sold beer within monastery walls to fund charitable work. Over centuries, intoxicants moved from small-scale religious production to vast, industrialised networks.

From sacred brewing vats to jungle labs producing millions of pills, this is a story of faith, commerce, and how substances evolve alongside human ambition.

Sources:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63792923

https://theconversation.com/yabas-grip-how-cheap-methamphetamine-is-fuelling-thailands-addiction-crisis-262765

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-08/thailand-misbehaving-monks-foreign-correspondent/104184056

https://www.vice.com/en/article/buddhist-monks-arrested-thailand/

https://www.historiascripta.org/the-middle-ages/beer-as-a-cultural-and-economic-staple-in-medieval-europe/

Before it fueled boardrooms and builders, revolutions and writers, coffee was a humble cherry growing wild in the highlands of Ethiopia. In this episode, we trace the epic journey of coffee from its legendary beginnings to the bustling markets of Yemen and the sacred streets of Mecca, where it became more than a drink, it became a debate. We explore how it spread through the mighty Ottoman Empire, where coffee houses blossomed into buzzing hubs of politics, poetry and power. Then Europe got a taste. In cities like London, coffee houses earned the nickname “penny universities” because for the price of a cup, you could access a world of ideas. Merchants, philosophers and future industrialists gathered under ceilings thick with steam and ambition. We unpack how coffee sharpened minds during the Industrial Revolution, replaced ale at breakfast, and even led to the very first law recognising coffee breaks at work.Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/coffee-production

https://time.com/archive/6870354/business-the-unpaid-coffee-break/

https://medium.com/@VocalJournalist/coffee-has-become-the-drink-of-productivity-and-not-just-in-the-office-bfeda0294826

https://www.history.com/articles/coffee-history-facts

Ergot is one of the most influential organisms you’ve probably never heard of.

In this episode, we break down what ergot actually is, how it infects crops, and what happens when humans consume it. We explore historical outbreaks of ergotism that caused convulsions, hallucinations, paranoia, and even gangrene, and examine the theory that ergot poisoning may have contributed to waves of witchcraft accusations in early modern Europe.

We also trace ergot’s transformation from feared contaminant to pharmaceutical resource, culminating in the synthesis of LSD by Albert Hoffman in the 20th century.

From mass hysteria to modern chemistry, from burning stakes to laboratory breakthroughs, this episode covers the science, the myths, and the lasting impact of a fungus that shaped history in ways few people realise.

Sources:

https://salemwitchmuseum.com/2023/05/17/debunking-the-moldy-bread-theory/

http://old.absentis.org/ergotism/the_witch_trials_of_finnmark_norway.pdf

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6640538/

https://www.worldhistory.org/St_Anthony's_Fire/

https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/historicalstudies/events/talk-cursed-breadhttps://www.albertagrains.com/the-growing-point/articles-library/understanding-ergot-outbreaks-and-how-to-manage-them?back=1094

In this episode, we unpack the Second Opium War—the conflict that forced China to legalize opium, opened Beijing to foreign powers, and helped ignite the “Century of Humiliation.” From the Arrow Incident to the burning of the Summer Palace, we trace how Papaver somniferum reshaped global trade and politics.We also break down the drug itself: opium vs. heroin, how morphine works in the brain, and how addiction escalated. Then we fast-forward to today—Portugal, Oregon, and the legalization debate—asking why drug policy succeeds in some places and fails in others.Sources:Sources:

⁠https://www.history.com/articles/taiping-rebellion⁠

⁠https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/history/second-opium-war⁠

⁠https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-11/pekingese-dog-looty-from-beijing-palace-to-queen-victorias-pet/12876904⁠

⁠https://www.napoleon.org/en/history-of-the-two-empires/timelines/the-franco-british-expedition-to-china-1860/⁠

⁠https://asiapacificcurriculum.ca/learning-module/opium-wars-china⁠

This episode examines the complex interplay of silver, tea, and global trade that set the stage for the Opium Wars. It explores Ming China’s silver-based tax system, the influx of silver from Japan and the Americas, and how these economic forces shaped international commerce.

The discussion also covers the British trade imbalance, the emergence of opium smuggling, and the early tensions that ultimately led to the First Opium War. Part 1 provides essential context for understanding the economic, political, and social factors behind this pivotal period in world history.

Sources:

https://human.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/History/World_History/Modern_World_History%3A_New_Perspectives_%28OERI%29/02%3A_Global_Interactions_-_1450-1650/2.06%3A_Silver_and_the_Ming_Dynastyhttps://www.britannica.com/event/First-Opium-Warhttps://www.britannica.com/list/timeline-of-the-first-opium-warhttps://scholarworks.harding.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1058&context=tenor

In this episode, we dive into one of the most infamous modern cults in history: Heaven’s Gate. Under the broader lens of human sacrifice, we examine the role pharmaceuticals played in the group’s final act, and how substances were used to reinforce belief, obedience, and control.

This episode features exclusive interviews with surviving members of Heaven’s Gate, as well as a woman who left the group before the mass suicide occurred. Through their firsthand accounts, we explore what life inside the group was really like, what led some to stay, and what allowed others to walk away.

Sources:

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-26/heavens-gate-cult-members-found-deadhttps://www.cnn.com/US/9704/05/cult.toxicology/index.htmlhttps://www.heavensgate.com/misc/letter.htm

https://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/life-inside-heavens-gate-cult-83366898

Bog bodies, ancient psychedelics, and the unsettling chemistry of ritual killing—welcome to history’s darkest trip. We dive into Iron Age bog bodies in Roman Britain—well-groomed men carefully stunned, strangled, drugged, and drowned as sacrifices, their last meals laced with mistletoe toxins and ergot fungus (yes, the stuff that eventually led to LSD). Then we head to ancient Peru, where Nazca mummies, severed trophy heads, coca leaves, mescaline, and ayahuasca show up in sacrificial rituals.

Sources:

• The mystery of the human sacrifices buried in Europe’s bogs (BBC)

• Grauballe Man (Moesgaard Museum)

• Nazca child ingested psychoactive cactus just before ceremonial death in ancient Peru (Live Science)

• Earliest Ayahuasca Trip (Archaeology Magazine)

Drugs weren’t just used to reach the gods—sometimes, they were the gods. In this episode of Pills and Power, we explore deities whose identities were inseparable from intoxicating substances. From Shiva and the ritual use of bhang and the mysterious soma, to Xochipilli and the psilocybin mushrooms woven into Aztec cosmology, we trace how drugs shaped worship, authority, and everyday life. We’ll look at the rituals, the evidence, and the followers who kept these traditions alive—and how their influence still lingers in religion, culture, and modern drug debates today.Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/soma-Hinduism

https://cswr.hds.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/ritual-and-religious-uses-psilocybe-mushrooms-mesoamerica

https://scholar.google.ca/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=Pachamama+Virgin+Mary&btnG=#d=gs_qabs&t=1768365260290&u=%23p%3DD6bOd8LPTz0J

The Stoned Age is a quick trip back to prehistory to explore our oldest drugs and where they fit into the very fabric of being human. From “caveman meth” to mushroom-headed shamans, this episode looks at how we know prehistoric people used drugs—and why they mattered. Along the way, we dig into mummies, cave art, Neanderthals, and Mormonism.

Sources: 

• The oldest archeological data evidencing the relationship of Homo sapiens with psychoactive plants: A worldwide overview

• Direct evidence of the use of multiple drugs in Bronze Age Menorca (Western Mediterranean) from human hair analysis

• Late pleistocene exploitation of Ephedra in a funerary context in Morocco

• The dangers of the herb ephedra

Season 2 of Pills and Power is coming—and it’s bigger, older and weirder than ever.

This season we dive into prehistoric drugs, religion, cults, power, and the rituals people swear by—from ancient human sacrifice to modern obsessions like Diet Coke.

New episodes drop 7th of January, and continue every Wednesday.

Welcome back to Pills and Power.