Drug Positive

Researchers at the University of Illinois have developed the world's first 3D molecular printer. Able to build complex molecules by attaching together atoms, it is only a matter of time before we all have the ability to print our own drugs from home. Yet technology in widespread use today may already provide the same benefits. We speak with investigative journalist, Mike Power, about drugs and the dark web, and how cryptocurrencies and anonymous online marketplaces have revolutionized drug markets.

Dr. Elinore McCance-Katz would rather you were dead than use drugs. This is the take-away message from her recent article critical of fentanyl testing strips, a life-saving harm reduction tool. In this episode we speak with Helena Valente, the Vice President of Kosmicare in Portugal, who has a very different perspective. In 2001 Portugal decriminalized all drugs, resulting in a 53% reduction in overdose deaths. Dr. McCance-Katz could learn a lot from her.

This is a teaser for episode three of our Patreon.com subscriber podcast, Drug Nonsense. In the full episode we cover not only the MDMA octopus study, but crack pipe vending machines, Trump at the UN, expensive trip sitters, Australia wanting to ban music festivals, and more.

Is the US Army secretly testing MDMA on active duty soldiers in order to create more effective killers? We spend an hour with David Nickles, underground researcher and moderator for The DMT-Nexus community. Not to be confused with former Purdue University professor and psychedelic chemist, David Nichols, Nickles has been ruffling a lot of feathers lately with questions and criticisms of what he views as the willingness of the psychedelic community to partner with the most destructive forces in society.

Elon Musk did not actually smoke weed on the Joe Rogan podcast, despite the entire media claiming otherwise. The video makes it perfectly clear. This is a special, free episode of our Patreon subscriber podcast, Drug Nonsense, where we expose the falsehoods and sheer idiocy of the mainstream media's reporting about drugs.

On June 17th, 1971, Richard Nixon launched the so-called "War on Drugs." Now, 47 years later a new generation of psychedelic users are taking the lead to end it. Working in solidarity with the communities most affected, today's new psychedelic advocates bring the lessons of the past four decades of reform activism to bear in calling for rational drug policies that protect both civil and human rights.

In this special, live episode of Drug Positive, we hang out in the lobby of the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre after watching the world premiere of comedian Shane Mauss's documentary, Psychonautics. We interview Shane as well as movie-goers and ask them about the most memorable psychedelic experiences.

How was MDMA invented? Who came up with the idea to add a methyl group to MDA, the "hug drug" of the 1960s? We found the person who "thought up" MDMA as a recreational drug. In 1975, on a hunch, Carl Resnikoff suggested to Sasha Shulgin that they methylate MDA. Later that Summer, they made a batch of MDMA together in a UC Berkeley laboratory, and Carl and his girlfriend were the first people on the planet (that we know of) to try it.

You may think you know the history of MDMA, but in this conversation with historian Dr. Torsten Passie, we discover it's weirder than we thought. From the Rajneesh cult in Oregon to the hills of Tennessee to the home of Panama's former dictator, Manuel Noriega, the history of MDMA is full of surprises, as well as mystery and intrigue. This is part one of a two-part series on the secret history of MDMA. Hold on to your baggies, because you're in for a wild ride!

We do not have an overdose crisis. We have a poisoned drug supply. Fentanyl and its analogs are killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. In Ohio fentanyl-laced cocaine fatalities are now outstripping fentanyl-laced herion fatalities. Who's adding fentanyl to the cocaine supply, and why? In this episode we speak with Dennis Cauchon, founder of Harm Reduction Ohio, and we make the case for heroin assisted treatment (HAT) to solve the crisis.

In this episode we spend an hour discussing the benefits of MDMA with Dr. Ben Sessa, child and adolescent psychiatrist with the Imperial College of London. Dr. Sessa is currently leading a study using MDMA to treat alcoholism. This is the first study of it’s kind, and we’ll hear some of the preliminary results.

In our first episode we speak with Amy Povah, founder of the nonprofit CANDO (Clemency for All Non-violent Drug Offenders). Amy was sentenced to 24 years in prison under the conspiracy law for refusing to cooperate with federal prosecutors when her former husband was charged with MDMA manufacturing and distribution. Granted clemency by Bill Clinton in 2003, she has subsequently devoted her life to helping other victims of the drug war.

This is our preview episode where we introduce ourselves and describe what the podcast is all about. We're building a movement of drug users and their families to end the drug war and establish drug policy based on science and public health.