"Why don't we, instead, work towards destigmatizing drugs altogether?" I asked.
The die for the Dope Stories Podcast had already been cast, and I was merely testing the waters with a concept I had been thinking about aggressively since pitching the idea of a radio show designed to foster "a rational discussion about drug use" to my future co-host, Pauly McGuire.
The Dope Stories Podcast began brewing this past summer while I was enjoying a monthlong reprieve from society in the form of a honeymoon road trip on the West Coast, highlighted in no small part by a return to psychedelic experimentation.
At the same time, Dr. Pauly was hitting the road on his own trip, enjoying his perennial escape from the rat race on Phish tour, reporting tidbits on Twitter such as the price of a strip of LSD on "the lot" and describing the eccentric characters who were hanging around at 5AM in a random San Francisco apartment after a show.
I always respected Pauly's journalistic voice, his Hunter S-esque way of embedding into a subculture and unabashedly reporting on the fun stuff. "We need to get together and compare notes" was my first thought. My second thought, "we need to put that discussion on tape during one of your '5 minute podcasts.'" That thinking quickly evolved into, "We need to start our own podcast and thoroughly examine all the issues related to drug use and drug policy. We have the experience to draw from and the balls to put it out there. Let's call it Dope Stories."
I can't think of an idea appearing so simply and completely to me while still rooted in the foggiest of notions and starkest contradictions.
For the past 20 years since reading Andrew Weill's 1972 seminal work on drug theory, The Natural Mind, I fully believed that drugs and experimentation were organic, integral aspects of human consciousness. But during 20 years since of my own experimentation, I have found little in the way of a blueprint or roadmap to rely on when reconciling how society regards the behavior of drug users engaged in what I consider fundamentally normal behavior.
The current discussion on drugs is mired in closed-minded, black-and-white thinking and the result is stratification and stigmatization: We demonize those addicted to certain drugs, like heroin and nicotine, while celebrating other aspects of our own drug use, like alcohol and caffeine.
Meanwhile, users are ostracized by their loved ones and families are ripped apart by illogical drug laws and antiquated legislation that everyone -- from the police and judges prosecuting the cases to the corner kids and hillbillies selling drugs -- agrees is an ongoing disaster.
If you haven't seen Eugene Jarecki's incredible documentary The House I Live In, I recommend taking the time to do it immediately if not soon. Jarecki's work is a significant element in the the inspiration for Dope Stories.
I wanted to start a conversation to help me understand all these contradictions, and to discuss:
- Why one of my oldest friends was being sent up on a 5-year federal prison sentence for dealing in the same substance, marijuana, that I get to freely enjoy under state regulations here in California.
- Why I consider psychedelic experimentation very valuable and healthy on the one hand but also very risky on the other. I wanted to describe my return to psychedelic experimentation in the context of my history, which is marked by a full-blown, drug-induced psychotic breakdown that I experienced as a result of the exact same kind of experimentation.
- My own experiences with hard drugs; bring that darkside of my personality to light, not just to "normalize" the behavior and break through my own stigmas but also to try and shed any light I can on the behavior.
And I knew there was only one person who could help get those stories out of me, and whose own stories I wanted to hear in return. That's Paul McGuire.
(Read Pauly's version of our origins here).
I love radio. It's been an important part of my life since listening to Vin Scelsa and Seven Second Delay in high school, Howard Stern and WFMU for over 20 years.
I also love the new era of DIY broadcasting that we call "podcasting." I can't think of a better medium to slowly but surely unravel all the confusion surrounding the topic of drug use and to make a connection with an audience around a fundamental, but wildly misunderstood, facet of human existence.
Pauly and I have our work cut out: we have 40 years of combined drug experience and roughly zero professional radio work under our belts--so it might take us an hour or three to get our thoughts straight, but we hope you stick around for what promises to be a long, strange trip.
Stay tuned for a bonus episode 2, in which we discuss the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, how 90s "heroin chic" in NYC may have helped foment his habit, and the needle and the damage done in our own lives.
After that, look for a new episode every Thursday.
Pauly and I have our work cut out: we have 40 years of combined drug experience and roughly zero professional radio work under our belts--so it might take us an hour or three to get our thoughts straight, but we hope you stick around for what promises to be a long, strange trip.
Stay tuned for a bonus episode 2, in which we discuss the death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman, how 90s "heroin chic" in NYC may have helped foment his habit, and the needle and the damage done in our own lives.
After that, look for a new episode every Thursday.