Episode 200: The Rise of the War on Drugs 2.0: This Time It's Different, We Promise
Added 2024-03-27 14:24:05 +0000 UTC“Sen. Chuck Schumer warns drug dealers are pushing rainbow fentanyl to children,” CBS News cries. “'It's very challenging': Inside the fentanyl fight at the border,” ABC News reports. “The hard-drug decriminalization disaster,” New York Times columnist Bret Stephens laments.
In recent years, we’ve been warned about the growing threat of hyperpotent street drugs, particularly opioids. Fentanyl is disguised as Halloween candy to appeal to children. US Border Patrol doesn’t have enough resources to keep up with drug screenings. Efforts to decriminalize drug use and possession are causing chaos and suffering on our streets.
The dangers of drugs like fentanyl are, of course, very real, and concerns about them are certainly legitimate. But too often, media framings don’t reflect genuine concerns. Rather than offering urgent solutions to help those who are truly struggling-like reduced penalties, or stable housing and healthcare–media, alongside policymakers, consistently promote the same old carceral logic of the Nixon-era War on Drugs, turning a true public-health crisis into an opportunity to increase arrests and policing in general.
On this episode, we look at the War on Drugs 2.0: This Time It’s Different We Promise, and how, despite lofty liberal rhetoric about how the War on Drugs has been cruel and counterproductive, media and elected officials are doubling down on fear-mongering, stigmatization, and severe prison and punishment.
Our guest is Emily Kaltenbach.
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Guests
Emily Kaltenbach is Senior Director of State Advocacy and Criminal Legal Reform at the Drug Policy Alliance.
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Show Notes
Oregon’s Making a Terrible Mistake in Rebooting the Drug War
Kassandra Frederique | March 3, 2024 | The Daily Beast
Oregon's Measure 110: What Really Happened.
Fact Sheet | February 28, 2024 | Drug Policy Alliance
Oregon Measure 110 Wasn't a Failure. Rolling Back Drug Decriminalization Will Be.
Ryan Marino | March 14, 2024 | MedPageToday
No, Oregon’s drug decriminalization law was not a failure
Robert Gebelhoff | March 5, 2024 | The Washington Post
Oregon undoes groundbreaking drug decriminalization law
Dani Aguiano | March 2, 2024 | The Guardian
Outrage Erupts in Oregon as Democrats Move to Recriminalize Drugs
Mike Ludwig | March 1, 2024 | Truthout
Oregon shouldn’t go backwards on drug decriminalization
Sarah Staudt | February 15, 2024 | Prison Policy Initiative
Tony Schick and Conrad Wilson | February 14, 2024 | Oregon Public Broadcasting / ProPublica
Zachary Pleast | February 14, 2024 | Media Matters for America
Inside tech billionaires’ push to reshape San Francisco politics: ‘a hostile takeover’
Ali Winston | February 12, 2024 | The Guardian
Did Measure 110 cause Oregon’s opioid crisis? Not so fast, research shows.
Jeremiah Hayden | February 7, 2024 | Street Roots
Decriminalizing Drug Possession Doesn’t Lead to More Fatal Overdoses
Haley Weiss | September 28, 2023 | TIME
In the Fentanyl Crisis, Lawmakers Are Making the Same Mistakes
Nicholas Turner and Nazish Dholakia | August 2, 2023 | Vera Institute of Justice
Biden should end America’s longest war: The War on Drugs
John Hudak | September 24, 2021 | Brookings Institution
Betsy Pearl and Maritza Perez | June 27, 2018 | Center for American Progress
More Imprisonment Does Not Reduce State Drug Problems
Issue Brief | March 8, 2018 | Pew
The Prison Paradox: More Incarceration Will Not Make Us Safer
Don Stemen | July 2017 | Vera Institute of Justice
Dan Baum | April 2016 | Harper's Magazine
The Drug War is the New Jim Crow
Graham Boyd | July/August 2001 | NACLA Report on the Americas
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here. You can find transcripts of past episodes, interviews and News Briefs here.
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Credits
Senior Producer: Florence Barrau-Adams
Producer: Julianne Tveten
Production Assistant: Trendel Lightburn
Newsletter: Marco Cartolano
Transcription: Mahnoor Imran
Music: Grandaddy
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Comments
I just want to thank you all for making this podcast. it's so informative and well-researched and it just keeps digging to get to the heart of issues. I showed it to a friend recently and his response was this: "I have in the span of... three episodes drastically changed my media targets and consumption. I hold you responsible and am very thankful. Many of the things they talk about I was fairly knowledgeable about, but the added layers they go through and the people they have in for interview are phenomenal." Thank you so much for all of the episodes and congratulations on your kid.
ewie
2024-04-16 14:50:56 +0000 UTCcongrats on the kiddo, Adam & Sarah!
c
2024-03-27 17:18:01 +0000 UTCAyyyyy congrats on 200 eps and congrats on the kid. Enjoy the well-earned respite. This nitpick might seem petty but can we please pronounce fentanyl correctly? It drives me batty. The -nyl is pronounced “nil” It’s not fent-a-nall or fent-a-nol. It’s fentanyl. Fent-a-nil. Signed, A guy who was addicted to illicit fentanyl and its many bizarre mystery analogues adulterating what used to be “heroin” for a long time.
Warren Commission Test Skull
2024-03-27 15:36:18 +0000 UTCCongrats on 200 episodes!
Matthew
2024-03-27 15:13:16 +0000 UTC
