Speaker 1: Thanks for tuning into Psychoactive the podcast. I'm Ethan Nadelman.
Speaker 1: And if you're interested in the great variety of drugs
Speaker 1: that affect mood, emotions, perceptions, and consciousness, then you've come
Speaker 1: to the right place. And if you're interested not just
Speaker 1: in drugs per se, but in drug policies, drug wars,
Speaker 1: drug markets, drug cultures, really just about anything involving mind
Speaker 1: altering drugs, you've really come to the right place. For
Speaker 1: more than twenty years, I was ahead of the Drug
Speaker 1: Policy Alliance, an organization that's been the driver of drug
Speaker 1: related reforms like legalizing marijuana and ending the broader war
Speaker 1: on drugs. In fact, I've spent most of my adult
Speaker 1: life almost four decades now, researching, writing, and teaching about drugs,
Speaker 1: and also advocating for drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health,
Speaker 1: and human rights. It all started for me growing up
Speaker 1: in a fairly religious old family, eldest son of a rabbi,
Speaker 1: learning to question and argue about pretty much everything. I
Speaker 1: didn't really get high until I started college. I liked
Speaker 1: marijuana and mushrooms and booze, but didn't think much about
Speaker 1: drug policy or even other drugs. Back then, I did wonder, though,
Speaker 1: why any of this stuff needed to be illegal. Why
Speaker 1: was I being defined as a criminal for smoking a
Speaker 1: joint or tripping on mushrooms even though I was harming nobody?
Speaker 1: And that bothered me. I went to law school and
Speaker 1: grad school and political science. A few academics back then
Speaker 1: were much interested in drugs, and it wasn't much in
Speaker 1: the media or political discourse. But I was curious. By
Speaker 1: the time I finished my dissertation and started teaching at Princeton,
Speaker 1: the drug issue had exploded. See this cute little vial here.
Speaker 1: That's crack rock cocaine, the most addictive form. Do you
Speaker 1: think it's the glamour drug of the eighties? It can
Speaker 1: kill you. President Reagan declared war on drugs tonight. There's
Speaker 1: something special to talk about. Drugs are menacing our society.
Speaker 1: They're threatening our values and undercutting our institutions. They're killing
Speaker 1: our children. Congress, state legislatures, and foreign governments enacted every
Speaker 1: more draconian laws, and politicians from across the political spectrum
Speaker 1: competed to be the toughest on drugs and crime. We
Speaker 1: speak with great concern about the drug problem in American
Speaker 1: to day, but we fail to appreciate or address it
Speaker 1: for what it really is. The number one threat to
Speaker 1: our national security. As President Alderman said, the drugs also yes,
Speaker 1: an act of war on drugs. It was madness like
Speaker 1: McCarthyism on steroids. I was baffled by the lack of
Speaker 1: skepticism and descent, even among liberals and black political leaders
Speaker 1: in the elite media. So I wrote a series of
Speaker 1: articles that catapulted me into the public eye. The drug war,
Speaker 1: i argued, was doomed to failure, just as alcohol prohibition
Speaker 1: had been. Its costs were escalating rapidly and ever more punitive.
Speaker 1: Prohibitionist measures would only fill prisons and rich and empower
Speaker 1: criminal organizations, exacerbate the dangers of drugs, and divert public
Speaker 1: resources for more productive ways of dealing with drug misuse.
Speaker 1: The fact is there has never been a drug free society.
Speaker 1: Any psychoactive substance can be used in ways that are
Speaker 1: unhealthy and even dangerous, and any psychoactive substance can be
Speaker 1: used safely and even beneficially. A couple of years into
Speaker 1: my advocacy and teaching, actually, while in a mushroom trip,
Speaker 1: I came to a realization not so much an epiphany
Speaker 1: as a crystallization of things. I've been thinking that this issue,
Speaker 1: at this cause where my calling in life. So with
Speaker 1: the country divided on drug use and jail time, how
Speaker 1: can Americans settle these policy issues when drug laws are
Speaker 1: so different state to state. Jointing us to help answer
Speaker 1: some of these questions is ethan natalment and that's what
Speaker 1: I did, working pretty much round the clock for the
Speaker 1: next twenty three years building the world's leading drug policy
Speaker 1: before more organization, the Drug Policy Alliance. We lead the
Speaker 1: way in legalizing marijuana, first for medical purposes and then
Speaker 1: for all adults. We started in one campaigns to cut
Speaker 1: the number of people getting arrested and locked up on
Speaker 1: drug charges. We showed people all the ways in which
Speaker 1: drug policies were enforced in racist and racially disproportionate ways,
Speaker 1: and deepen the links between the movements for racial justice
Speaker 1: and drug policy reform. People often ask me why I
Speaker 1: devoted so much of my life to teaching about drugs
Speaker 1: and reforming drug policies. Part of it, I realized some
Speaker 1: time ago, was simply an emotional and probably existential need
Speaker 1: to embed my intellectual pursuits in a cause that I
Speaker 1: really cared about personally. It bugged me that the law
Speaker 1: defined me as a criminal for using marijuana and other drugs,
Speaker 1: and it bothered me even more that tens of millions
Speaker 1: of other people, many of them far more vulnerable to
Speaker 1: arrest and punishment than I, were similarly defined. The reason
Speaker 1: why some drugs were legal and others illegal, I realized
Speaker 1: early on, has little to do with the relative harms
Speaker 1: of different drugs, but almost everything to do with who
Speaker 1: used and who was perceived to use particular drugs. But
Speaker 1: the most fundamental reason I committed my life to this
Speaker 1: issue is that I saw it as one of human rights.
Speaker 1: I believe that no one deserves to be punished or
Speaker 1: discriminated against her amongst based solely on the substance one
Speaker 1: chooses to put into their body. I believe that every
Speaker 1: human being is inherently sovereign over one's own mind and body.
Speaker 1: But hey, you've tuned into this introductory episode not just
Speaker 1: to learn about me, but also to find out more
Speaker 1: about this podcast. Why am I starting it? One of
Speaker 1: the biggest hurtles for drug reform has been the lack
Speaker 1: of open and honest discussion about drugs. People were afraid
Speaker 1: to admit they use drugs, and for good reason. I
Speaker 1: see this podcast as a chance to talk with some
Speaker 1: of the smartest, the most interesting people in the world
Speaker 1: to bring a unique perspective to the issue of drugs.
Speaker 1: Some guests who will be old friends, and others will
Speaker 1: be people I've never met before. Some will be famous,
Speaker 1: some infamous. You'll hear from scientists and scholars, activists and politicians, actors, musicians,
Speaker 1: writers and comedians. Will probably talk to some drug dealers
Speaker 1: and drug enforcers. And of course we'll invite people whose
Speaker 1: relationships with drugs have ranged from wildly and profoundly successful
Speaker 1: to tragically and immensely destructive. I'm interested in all psychoactive drugs,
Speaker 1: so we'll cover the spectrum, talking not just about marijuana
Speaker 1: and d n A, cocaine, heroin, and the wide range
Speaker 1: of psychedelics. Will also talk about opioids and all sorts
Speaker 1: of amphetamines, benson, azippines and SSR eyes and alcohol, tobacco
Speaker 1: and nicotine and caffeine, cot cava, cradum and ketamine, and
Speaker 1: an endless variety of synthetic drugs. One more thing, I
Speaker 1: am not a medical doctor, so when I or a
Speaker 1: guests talk about the benefits of using particular drugs or
Speaker 1: even suggest trying something. Trust our judgment up to a point,
Speaker 1: but don't try anything just because I or a guest
Speaker 1: suggested it. Do your own research and talk first with
Speaker 1: others you know personally and whose judgment you trust. In
Speaker 1: the meantime, I would love for you to reach out
Speaker 1: to me on Twitter and over voicemail. The number we've
Speaker 1: set up is eight three three seven seven nine two
Speaker 1: four six, So I want to know what you find
Speaker 1: interesting and what you disagree with. I want to hear
Speaker 1: your suggestions for topics and guests, and I want to
Speaker 1: hear your experiences. Finally, in response to a question I've
Speaker 1: already been asked, many times, should you get high before
Speaker 1: or while listening to Psychoactive? What can I say? It's
Speaker 1: your call? Or maybe I should say whatever keeps you
Speaker 1: coming back and and to dip and he then conject
Speaker 1: them and jip and