This week is about the evolution of drugs and the role of big pharma (#Capitalism) in creating and exploding the war on drugs.

From Cannabis to Marinol to Spice/K2...
From coca leaves to cocaine to crack...
From willow tree bark to Aspirin to Ibuprofen...
From eucalyptus to amphetamine to methamphetamine to Adderall...
From PCP to Ketamine...
From tea to barbiturates to benzos to SSRIs to glutamate drugs...
From beer and wine to spirits and liquor....
Something capitalistic has been driving our addictions. This isn't natural.

This week I get back to the roots of the show: drugs. I discuss the evolution of drugs via capitalism, and the reason the drugs we used to take decades (and centuries) ago were natural, and, as such, safer and less addictive than the drugs we usually take today. Those old-school, natural drugs are now hard to find, replaced by more potent, cheaper, synthetic chemicals that can be patented by big pharma then shoved down our throats. Cocaine replaced coca leaves only to be replaced itself by methamphetamine. Heroin replaced opium gum only to be replaced itself by fentanyl(s). Cannabis was replaced by...35% THC Cannabis in the early 2000s only to be replaced by synthetic cannabis (Spice, K2).

Article with Jacob Carlock: Crafting Convict Criminologists: An Invitation to Join us in Prison available in The Prison Journal.

Episode 112: The Opium Wars

Read more about David Carrillo here: https://www.chalkbeat.org/colorado/2024/04/11/david-carrillo-continues-to-teach-incarcarated-students-college-classes/

Read more about the Returning Artists Guild (RAG) here: https://thereturningartistsguild.org/

Read Captured Words/Free Thoughts here: https://clas.ucdenver.edu/communication/research-creative-work/captured-words-free-thoughts

Drop me an email at [email protected]. 

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Why does everyone in the 2020s seem to have their own version of reality? And why does truth seem to be up for debate in every area? Marshall McLuhan explained why 50 years ago.

This week I answer the question, "why don't you host commercials?" I also discuss the larger, related issues of capitalism, neoliberalism, and Marshall McLuhan's claim that the medium is the message as it relates to our current culture of post truth. 

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This week I talk about Karl Marx's claim that religion is the opium of the masses. I also talk about Friedrich Engels's concept of exploitation by wage labor, Friedrich Hegel's dialectics, capitalism, globalization, and the religious values of different eras (and why they always align with economic values of that era). 

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This week I dive back into some philosophical theory related to why we are so prone to struggle with anxiety, addiction and alienation in today's world. Guy Debord wrote The Society of the Spectacle more than 50 years ago, and in it he explained the current state of so-called "Western Cultures" as having moved from the importance of being  to a culture where the importance is on having, and eventually, on to the importance being placed on appearance only (to appear to own something by snapping a photo is good enough).

As a culture, we are now completely preoccupied with and focused on the spectacle, not the real. It's more important to change your Facebook banner to an LGBTQ+ flag on the right day to show your support than it is to support LGBTQ+ people in your heart. It's more important to be seen as having the perfect family or the perfect life than it is to actually build the perfect family or the perfect life. Some people drive $60k cars and live in crumbling homes. In today's cultural setting, a reputation for success requires the complete abandonment of one's personal identity in exchange for the stock characteristics that the audience wants in a performer — whether Marylin Manson actually drinks blook or Ozzy Osborn actually worships the devil doesn't matter. Only the spectacle of performance is valued.

I also cover Marx's theory of capitalism increasing alienation, the Frankfurt School's and the Situationists' (many of the same people) work on how Marx's world of commodity fetishism expanded to spectacle fetishism (the appearance came to be more important than the real), and Debord's (and re-Marx's) concept of magic properties bestowed upon commodities if producers can manage to hide the actual process of manufacturing from the public.

Before you listen to this episode, you might want to take a moment to listen to Macklemore's "Wings." on YouTube here, or anywhere you stream music. Check out the Nike commercial from that song on YouTube for a great example of recuperation (pt 2), and check out the corporate logo US flag for a great example of détournement (pt 2). 

Support the show

Email us at [email protected]

This week I dive back into some philosophical theory related to why we are so prone to struggle with anxiety, addiction and alienation in today's world. Guy Debord wrote The Society of the Spectacle more than 50 years ago, and in it he explained the current state of so-called "Western Cultures" as having moved from the importance of being  to a culture where the importance is on having, and eventually, on to the importance being placed on appearance only (to appear to own something by snapping a photo is good enough).

As a culture, we are now completely preoccupied with and focused on the spectacle, not the real. It's more important to change your Facebook banner to an LGBTQ+ flag on the right day to show your support than it is to support LGBTQ+ people in your heart. It's more important to be seen as having the perfect family or the perfect life than it is to actually build the perfect family or the perfect life. Some people drive $60k cars and live in crumbling homes. In today's cultural setting, a reputation for success requires the complete abandonment of one's personal identity in exchange for the stock characteristics that the audience wants in a performer — whether Marylin Manson actually drinks blook or Ozzy Osborn actually worships the devil doesn't matter. Only the spectacle of performance is valued.

I also cover Marx's theory of capitalism increasing alienation, the Frankfurt School's and the Situationists' (many of the same people) work on how Marx's world of commodity fetishism expanded to spectacle fetishism (the appearance came to be more important than the real), and Debord's (and re-Marx's) concept of magic properties bestowed upon commodities if producers can manage to hide the actual process of manufacturing from the public. 

Before you listen to this episode, you might want to take a moment to listen to Macklemore's "Wings." on YouTube here, or anywhere you stream music. Check out the Nike commercial from that song on YouTube for a great example of recuperation (pt 2), and check out the corporate logo US flag for a great example of détournement (pt 2). 

Support the show

Email us at [email protected]

C. Dreams, Dr. Christina Perez's moniker while incarcerated, joins me today to talk about addiction, recovery, reentry, education, stigma, social movement, reappropriation, colorism, plus she shares her story of doing interviews (including for this show) on a contraband cell phone smuggled into her prison cell.

Check out C. Dreams' work at Filter Magazine. You can also find her on Twitter/X @UnCagedCritique.

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This week I revisit a topic I've discussed repeatedly on this show: the reported success rates of 12-Step programs like AA and NA. I talk about the reason these programs persist as the norm despite an odd lack of data to verify their success, and I walk through the reasons AA and other 12-Step programs are highly religious while almost always claiming (and appearing) not to be. 

Read Cochrane's new(er) meta-analysis of 12-step success rates on their website.

Read more about aging out of addiction in Zimburg's work.

14% - 31% of people who walk into a 12-Step meeting keep coming for at least 1 year.
21% - 22% of people who stay in a 12-Step program for more than a year remain sober.
5% - 8% of people who walk into a 12-Step meeting will remain sober for at least 1 year.

Some studies show that those who try a 12-Step program actually have worse success rates than non-treatment groups. 

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This week I talk about the medication shortages across the United States. Drugs used to treat ADHD, chronic pain, and other conditions have been in short supply lately for reasons unexplained. Different groups have blamed the shortage on one anther: the manufacturers blame the DEA, while the DEA blames manufacturers. But as usual, the problem comes down to a design issue. 

For more about Assent's issues with the DEA, check out the Reason article, "DEA Shuts Down Factory even as Adderall Shortage Persists." 

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This week I wrap up a multi-part discussion of Foucault's theories of panoptic power, institutional knowledge, and discourses used to endorse awful ideas and beliefs about drugs and drug users. I also talk about Michel Foucault's car accident while high on opium, the notion of panoptic power, Jeremy Bentham's panoptic prison, discourse, stigma and stereotype.

Foucault audio at intro and outro from Century of the Self lecture series. 

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Captured Words/Free Thoughts is an annual, non-profit publication packed with art, poetry and prose inspired and written inside US prisons. Every year a group of volunteers records some of the submissions in audio form to share with the world.

An online version of the full magazine (and all previous volumes) is here. If you or someone you know (in prison or out) would like a paper copy, contact me and I'll make sure to send one out (for free). You can reach us by mail at CW/FT, 1201 Larimer St, Suite 3014, Denver, CO, 80204.

Intro: Ben Boyce
"My Freedom Kite," by Monica Petrosian
"What's in a Name?" by Gary K. Farlow
"Pledge of Allegiance," by Gary K. Farlow
"Nana," by Tanya Austin
"Attempting Sobriety," by Dylan Lapointe (DJ)
"To My Trans Brothers (My Incarcerated Word)," by H.L. Tapia 
"Quiet Night," by Anthony Enis
"Prison is not a Depository," by Abdullah Muhammad
"Mr. Box," by Larry N. Stromberg
"Methamphetamine," by Dylan Lapointe (DJ)
"To Imprisonment," by Eric Perez
"A Birthday in Prison," by Keith Pertusio
"Prison World" by Larry N. Stromberg
"Bound," by Christian J. Weaver
"Living are the Dead," by David Neff
"A Better Way," by Todd Broxmeyer
"No," by Eugene "Tsunami” Miller
"The Beast in the Mirror," by David Zenquis
"Incarcerated but Inspired," by David Richardson
"My First Day on Death Row," by Anthony Enis
"Black Boy Dark Child," by Daniel Mopkins
"Can’t Breathe," by Larry N. Stromberg
"Pain," by Shawn Harris
"Lockdown," by Gary K. Farlow
"The Man Not Taken," by Christian Weaver
"Convict Chronicles: An Ode to Time," by Leo Cardez
"Loving a Convict," by Debbie Magee
"Meaningful," by Taveuan Williams
"Finally," by  Manuel G. Sisneros Sr.
"QUO VADIS?" by Troy Brownlow
Outro: Meghan Cosgrove & Ben Boyce
Cover art painting of MLB pitcher Satchel Paige by Warren Worthington

Sestina Godspell
Six months in prison became a theater
Uniforms became just another costume
Not knowing that all of life is a stage
Every man a star to the director
Expectations changed the meaning of dance

Soon this chaotic troupe began to dance
together breathing freedom into theater
Even the gods came to absorb their song
Commitment was fit to wear the costume
guided by the light of the director
All his tender loving care set the stage

A bus transported All actors and stage
where even the law could begin to dance
with shackle and chain requested one director
whose eye was trained on a different theater
Attempting to restrain men in costume
all the while each was singing the same song

Unforgettable Nights echoed their song
Ancestors followed footprints to the stage
where reality wore a different costume
the love of family improved the dance
Never before hade HOME become  theater
except in the heart of our director

Five shows meant oneness with their director
A certain harmony in their song
could be felt in the vibrating theater
Hugging hands joined families on stage
where every soul entered the act of love dance
stripping away Lucifer's green costume

In the next act gone was every costume
Filled with satisfaction our director
coordinated the tear down dance
of this newly formed society's song
echoing in their love of theater
Their hearts will Never leave the magic stage

Empty feels the dance without the old song
and costumes feel

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