History on Drugs Podcast

About History on Drugs Podcast

This is a podcast about drugs, history, and the endlessly fascinating interaction of the two. Sometimes we'll talk drugs. Sometimes we'll talk history. Sometimes we'll talk about both. This podcast is connected to the Substack newsletter of the same name. https://isaaccampos.substack.com/ isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)

Publisher

Isaac Campos

Category

history · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

Yes

First episode

24 Mar 2024

Latest episode

20 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

19 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   20 Sept 2026

   Tales of True Crime and Drug Smuggling, with David Tuch

   My latest guest is independent scholar David Tuch, author of The Wireless Operator: The Untold Story of the British Sailor Who Invented the Modern Drug Trade (Icon Books, 2025). The book tells the story of Harold Derber, the man who pioneered the “mothership” smuggling technique that dominated U.S. drug trafficking during the 1970s. It’s a remarkable tale of true crime that takes us from the Battle of the Atlantic through the Arab-Israeli War and the Cuban Revolution. There are connections with Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy, the Gambino crime family, and even Francis Ford Coppola. Derber lived a truly extraordinary life before he was assassinated in the late 1970s. He was also David’s cousin. We discuss all of it in this fascinating conversation. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-3:11: Introduction. 3:11-16:11: Intro to Harold Derber, the origins of the research, David’s background, adding color to a historical narrative. 16:11-32:42: Derber’s background, WWII, the Arab-Israeli War, smuggling arms to the Dominican Republic, Derber’s motivations. 32:42-53:43: Sarah Cohen and her diaries, Derber’s mob ties, Francis Ford Coppola, James Donovan, the Bay of Pigs prisoners, Victor Piña Cardosa, shuttling Cubans to Miami, Castro, Derber deported. 53:43-1:06:11: Stealing boats in Latin America, drug trafficking and the invention of the “mothership,” cutting a deal with Cuban intelligence, Derber as a potential CIA asset? 1:06:11-1:14:36: His assassination as he was about to testify in the First Jersey Securities case, the Gambino crime family, the murder of his lookalike, who was it that killed Derber? 1:14:36-1:18:25: How David researched all of this. 1:18:25-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

2. 

   16 Aug 2026

   White Market Drugs and a Late Twentieth-Century American Story, with David Herzberg

   My latest guest is drug-history pioneer David Herzberg. In two important books—Happy Pills in America: From Miltown to Prozac (Johns Hopkins, 2008) and the prize-winning White Market Drugs: Big Pharma and the Hidden History of Addiction in America (Chicago, 2020)—David has put pharmaceuticals at the center of addiction history in the United States. David is also co-editor of drug history’s flagship journal, The Social History of Alcohol and Drugs. We talk about David’s fascinating journey through the late twentieth-century United States, heroin, methadone, White Market Drugs, how to talk to your kids about intoxicants, and David’s hope that we can make drugs boring again. It’s a great conversation. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-4:02: Introduction. 4:02-20:14: Early life, hard times as a Jewish kid in Arkansas, finally being recognized as a good student in Vermont, the possible influence of all of this on David’s scholarship, early interest in history, an eccentric high-school teacher. 20:14-41:35: Miserable at Harvard, dropping out, doing some very hapless wandering around the western United States, Eugene, becoming a tree planter amidst heavy drug users. 41:35-55:34: Getting out of Eugene and moving to Portland (Oregon), returning to Vermont and then going back to college, dumping science and then sociology for history, thinking about graduate school and the history of education. 55:34-1:18:22: Graduate school at Wisconsin, women’s history, getting interested in pharmaceuticals and how they were advertised, Paul Boyer, Judy Leavitt, Ron Numbers, heroin, methadone, drug education, and talking to your kids about drugs. 1:18:22-1:34:09: What David learned when he started researching drugs, making drugs boring again, debating whether drugs are special, the inspiration for White Market Drugs, and the Groundhog Day of prescription-drug epidemics. 1:34:09-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

3. 

   17 Jun 2026

   Opioids, Methadone, and the History of Medication-Assisted Treatment, with Emily Dufton

   My latest guest is Emily Dufton. Emily is an independent scholar and historian who has written a lot about drugs over the years. Her first book, Grass Roots: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America (Basic Books, 2017), told the roller-coaster story of the marijuana-legalization movement since the 1960s. Her new book, Addiction, Inc.: Medication-Assisted Treatment and America’s Forgotten War on Drugs (University of Chicago Press, 2026), is about methadone maintenance and other forms of medication-assisted treatment (MAT) during roughly the same time period. As Emily explains, most addiction researchers will tell you that the best way to treat opioid addiction is medication-assisted, yet this approach to treatment continues to carry heavy stigma and is underutilized in the United States. In her book, and in this conversation, Emily explains why. We also talk about being a writer, growing up in Allentown, Pennsylvania, the Nixon Administration, Emily getting hazed by Jerome Jaffe, and more. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-5:08: Introduction. 5:08-13:15: Academic versus popular publishing, book synopsis and inspiration, medication-assisted treatment (MAT) defined. 13:15-17:24: Allentown, deindustrialization, and opioids. 17:24-21:24: Researching MAT, Michael Massing’s The Fix, getting hazed by Jerome Jaffe. 21:24-29:15: The history of methadone, the Nazis, methadone maintenance in the USA, Vincent Dole and Marie Nyswander. 29:15-38:40: The US in the 1960s, the French Connection, heroin in Vietnam, Nixon’s declaration of “war on drugs,” the supposed John Erhlichman quote. 38:40-48:29: Nixon’s concerns about crime, Jeff Donfeld and Bud Krogh, Robert DuPont, Jerome Jaffe, the advantages of methadone, the very loud critics and methadone’s fall from grace in the 1970s. 48:29-1:10:07: The revival of MAT, the AIDS crisis, COVID-19, the story of Buprenorphine, heroin in the ‘90s, the Drug Abuse Treatment Act of 2000, the launch of Suboxone, Shaun Thaxter, Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals. 1:10:07-1:17:57: Why isn’t MAT reaching more people? 1:17:57-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

4. 

   14 Apr 2026

   A Strange Trip into Terence McKenna and Psychedelics, with John O'Connor

   My latest guest is John O’Connor, author of A Short, Strange Trip: An Untold Story of Magic Mushrooms, Madness, and a Search for the Meaning of Life in the Amazon, which was published today (April 14, 2026). This is the story of Terence McKenna, arguably the single most important figure in popularizing psilocybin mushrooms in the late twentieth century United States. In the early 1970s, McKenna traveled to the Colombian Amazon in search of psychedelics and, in the end, believed he’d discovered the key to saving humanity. Though he is perhaps better known for his “stoned ape theory,” which posits the importance of psychedelics in the evolution of Homo sapiens. In the 1990s he spread his ideas through various publications and, most importantly, on the American lecture circuit, helping to reignite interest in these substances. All of this would eventually morph into today’s psychedelic renaissance. In this episode John and I talk about McKenna, Colombia, writing, and our own adventures with these drugs. It’s a great conversation. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). On April 15, I will begin serializing a chapter from the book on the newsletter (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/). No subscription necessary, but we appreciate you signing up (it’s free). Episode Outline 0:00-4:09: Introduction. 4:09-20:22: Podcast critiques, the new book, psychonauts, McKenna and his mission, True Hallucinations, Roger Casement, La Chorrera, the “hippie trail,” Richard Evans Schultes, psychedelics in Colombia. 20:22-51:45: Setting the record straight, personal experiences with psychedelics, fun versus therapy, what LSD meant in the 1980s, “set and setting” and drugs, identifying with the Sixties during the 1980s, more on psychedelics and fun, do psychedelics have to be therapy? 51:45-1:05:39: Roland Griffiths, the challenges of psychedelic therapy, quackery, indigenous psychedelics versus the global market, psychedelics and violence in the Amazon. 1:05:39-1:15:48: On becoming a writer, what makes for a successful travel story, writing books versus magazine articles. 1:15:48-1:24:13: Regrets, last thoughts on the impact of Terence and Dennis McKenna, psychedelics and bullshit. 1:24:13-End: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

5. 

   2 Feb 2026

   Episode #15: Graham Harding and the History of Champagne in the UK

   My latest conversation is with Graham Harding (https://www.stx.ox.ac.uk/people/graham-harding), author of Champagne in Britain, 1800-1914: How the British Transformed a French Luxury (Bloomsbury, 2023). Graham and I met last spring in London, where we talked about the history of champagne during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, along with the fascinating history of “branding,” which came of age during the same period. Graham has not only studied branding with academic rigor, but also lived it during a long career in marketing and advertising prior to becoming an academic. Additionally, he has published A Wine Miscellany: A Jaunt Through the Whimsical World of Wine, which has been described (https://www.vinography.com/2008/02/book_review_a_wine_miscellany) as “a thorough and entertaining collection, sprinkling facts and lore on the history, culture, business and science of savoring and making wine.” This episode is filled with booze, business, and some great stories. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-5:30: Introduction. 5:30-7:56: The unexpected bonuses of publishing Champagne in Britain. 7:56-18:21: Early life, Cambridge, working in publishing, advertising, and marketing. 18:21-28:25: Leaving the business world for academia, getting into wine, A Wine Miscellany, developing his dissertation topic, champagne and the origins of modern marketing, nineteenth-century “influencers,” product placement. 28:25-41:58: The science of champagne bubbles, the early history of champagne, “Sir Farter,” making champagne drier in Britain and the origins of the drink we enjoy today. 41:58-49:55: The birth of modern branding, the intersection of taste and social history, why champagne was better for branding than “still” wine. 49:55-57:16: The history of the term “branding,” why champagne became the drink of the aristocracy. 57:16-1:05:41: Graham’s family background and its possible relationship to his career path, going back to school in his 60s, working with William White, Christina de Bellaigue, and Peter Mandler. 1:05:41-1:16:45-: New collaborative projects, craft vs. science in pinot noir. 1:16:45-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

6. 

   1 Nov 2025

   Episode #14: Drugs in the Netherlands, with Stephen Snelders

   My latest guest is Stephen Snelders (https://www.uu.nl/staff/SAMSnelders) of Utrecht University. Stephen and I met up in Amsterdam last March to talk about drugs, history, and the Netherlands. A native of Amsterdam, Stephen watched up close as the various drug scenes in that great city evolved during the 1980s. This helped turn him into a drug historian, initially studying the history of LSD in his country, and eventually publishing Drug Smuggler Nation: Narcotics and the Netherlands, 1920-1995 (Manchester University Press, 2021). We talk about the 1960s and Amsterdam, the development of the famous Dutch system of cannabis “tolerance,” the deep roots of drug smuggling there, organized crime, and much more. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-4:04: Introduction. 4:04-9:14: Early life and education, getting into history, the 1980s in Amsterdam. 9:14-14:40: Graduating from college, the MDMA/House rage, learning that you could get paid to do a PhD, deciding to work on the history of LSD in the Netherlands, doing an oral history of the Amsterdam drug subculture. 14:40-23:20: The development of LSD in the Netherlands in the 1950s and ‘60s, Simon Vinkenoog and the Beats, happenings, the Provo countercultural movement, the road to cannabis “toleration,” Bart Huges and the “third eye,” the 1980s and MDMA. 23:20-31:12: Today’s psychedelic renaissance and its lack of a countercultural vibe, professionalization of psychedelic therapy, psychedelics as PEDs and as part of the neoliberal project. 31:12-43:12: “Smart shops,” mushrooms, “truffles,” coffee shops and Dutch pragmatism, the transformation of cannabis from a hippie drug to something else, criminal involvement in the cannabis market. 43:12-48:49: 1990s homegrown cannabis, Ed Rosenthal, smuggling, new raids on coffee shops, organized crime, medicinal cannabis. 48:49-51:58: Prostitution in the Netherlands and the Amsterdam Red Light District. 51:58-55:35: Finishing the dissertation, first job, the field of medical history, academia in the Netherlands. 55:35-1:06:40: The long history of Dutch drug smuggling, organized crime today in the Netherlands. 1:06:40-1:13:04: Is the illicit market “working”? 1:13:04-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

7. 

   14 Sept 2025

   Episode #13: Government Secrets, Existential Risk, and Higher Education, with Matthew Connelly

   This week’s guest is Matthew Connelly (https://history.columbia.edu/person/connelly-matthew/), professor of international and global history at Columbia University. This interview was especially fun for me because it was Matt who, back at the University of Michigan in the 1990s, turned me into a historian. My whole way of doing things has been indelibly shaped by him. Matt is of course better known as a great and prolific scholar. His publications include a first monograph (https://academic.oup.com/book/47160) on the Algerian War for Independence, his highly-influential book (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674034600) on the history of international population control, and his terrific, recent work on the U.S. government’s obsession with secrecy: We talk about Matt’s job at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (https://www.cser.ac.uk/), his most recent book, his career trajectory, and much more. We also reminisce and laugh a lot. It’s a great conversation. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-4:53: Introduction. 4:53-11:36: Center for the Study of Existential Risk, global catastrophic events, nuclear war, studying topics shrouded in secrecy, AI. 11:36-24:43: Using technology to do history, Filemaker, realizing how important being organized is, the influence of Matt’s dad. 24:43-37:23: Teen dreams of being a lawyer and then having a career in policymaking, Matt’s Alex P. Keaton phase, Columbia University as an undergraduate, Cambridge University and discovering a love of history, being mentored and encouraged to continue studying history by Brendan Bradshaw (https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/one-of-the-first-priests-to-attend-cambridge-since-the-reformation-1.3360071). 37:23-47:59: After college, realizing he didn’t want to have a normal boss, moving on to Yale for graduate school, Paul Kennedy, Gaddis Smith, the Algerian War, A Diplomatic Revolution, learning to write, mentoring students. 47:59-1:00:07: First job at the University of Michigan, jargon and the cutting edge, Geoff Eley, Bob Axelrod, popular versus academic history. 1:00:07-1:07:16: Reflecting on the move from Michigan to Columbia and mentoring students. 1:00:07-1:10:46: Thoughts on our current moment and the importance of history and the university. 1:10:46-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

8. 

   10 Aug 2025

   Episode #12: Waging War on the War on Drugs, with Ethan Nadelmann

   This week’s guest is drug-policy-reform legend Ethan Nadelmann. Ethan led the charge against the War on Drugs beginning in the 1980s, first as a professor at Princeton and then as the head of the Lindesmith Center which became the Drug Policy Alliance. He’s published various influential works, including the books Cops Across Borders: The Internationalization of U.S. Criminal Law Enforcement (https://www.psupress.org/books/titles/0-271-01094-0.html?srsltid=AfmBOorXCnUBMzvJPWL_YH3vGZsTOqMRjCbcneN68RqSfzcP0xSyucEb) and Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations (https://polisci.brown.edu/publication/policing-the-globe) (with Peter Andreas), along with many important articles (https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/1998-01-01/commonsense-drug-policy) and even a podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psychoactive/id1574548562). When we write the history of the end (hopefully) of the War on Drugs, Ethan will be right at the center of the narrative. You get a first draft of that story here, plus Ethan’s thoughts on the psychedelic renaissance, building political movements, and much more. As always, the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-4:53: Introduction. 4:53-21:18: The psychedelic renaissance, early life, education, getting into drugs academically, getting sucked into national debates on drugs, the emergence of a new drug-policy-reform era, race and reform, the three branches of drug-policy reform. 21:18-37:22: The late ‘80s drug panic, imagining what legalization might look like, meeting George Soros, conceiving of a new drug-policy center, the Open Society Institute, the Lindesmith Center. 37:22-54:55: Connecting intellectual pursuits to activism, historical precedents for harnessing privilege to lead a reform movement, the influence of Ethan’s rabbi father, challenging the drug warriors in person, learning to love public speaking. 54:55-58:24: Interviewing DEA agents, what they thought about their mission, observing the drug war in action in Latin America, including torture and home detention. 58:24-1:07:16: The Lindesmith Center merges with the Drug Policy Foundation to create the Drug Policy Alliance, working with George Soros, medical marijuana in California (Prop. 215), Peter Lewis, George Zimmer, John Spurling, Chuck Bliss, Ram Dass, other initiatives between 1996 and 2000. 1:07:16-1:19:09: The political scene after 9/11, the first international conference on preventing overdoses (2000), changing political winds, unsuccessful ballot initiatives, building the Drug Policy Alliance, balancing the different constituencies of drug-policy reform, “harm reduction.” 1:19:09-1:34:04: Staying enthusiastic and energized, Ira Glasser, successes in the early 2010s, deciding to retire, the 2016 election. 1:34:04-1:48:12: Looking back on all of the extraordinary change since the 1980s, the keys to a successful moral revolution. 1:48:12-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

9. 

   28 Jun 2025

   Episode #11: From Drug Addiction to Drug Journalism, with Maia Szalavitz

   Author Maia Szalavitz recounts her journey from a challenging youth and drug addiction to a successful journalism career, offering insights on addiction and flawed approaches, in an interview with the host.

10. 

    26 May 2025

    Episode #10: The History of Cocaine, a Long Career, and Some Great Stories, with Paul Gootenberg

    Paul Gootenberg, SUNY Distinguished Professor, recounts his career, including stories about 1960s radicals, drug culture, and his scholarship on cocaine history, in an interview.

11. 

    14 Apr 2025

    Episode #9: The World of Psychedelics, with Erika Dyck

    My latest guest is historian Erika Dyck (https://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/EDyck#ResearchAreas). Erika is one of the world’s leading authorities on psychedelics both past and present. She hails from Saskatchewan, Canada, which back in the 1950s was ground zero for new scientific research into psychedelic therapy, an era she wrote about in her first book, and which we talk about at some length in our conversation. We also discuss her youth in Saskatoon, how she became a historian, the current psychedelic renaissance, and even a chance encounter she had with Timothy Leary back in the early 1990s. It’s great stuff. As always the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-5:18: Introduction. 5:18-20:26: Early life in Saskatchewan, possible roots of research focus, early interest in history, college years, crossing the whole country in the mid-90s, the arrival of the internet, being a history major at Dalhousie University, return to Saskatoon, “doing” versus “studying,” parenting in the 80s and 90s. 20:26-35:25: Getting interested in graduate school, getting involved in politics, thinking about going back for the PhD, working at a movie theater and meeting Timothy Leary, deciding on the PhD program at McMaster University. 35:25-56:21: Starting the program at McMaster University, Saskatchewan’s mid-twentieth-century socialist government and the road to psychedelic research, Humphrey Osmond, 1950s psychedelic therapy, Captain Al Hubbard, controversies related to psychedelic therapy. 56:21-1:16:09: Finishing the dissertation, first job at the University of Alberta, getting taken seriously when you study drugs, psychedelics and awe, studying eugenics and then madness, editing a book on peyote and the Native American Church—a new direction into indigenous ritual and ceremony. 1:16:09-1:30:09: Thoughts on the psychedelic renaissance, thinking with psychedelics, the psychedelic gold rush, harm reduction and psychedelics, the role of the internet, social media. 1:30:09-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

12. 

    2 Mar 2025

    Episode #8: Smart Cities, Universities, and a Career in History, with Davarian Baldwin

    This week’s guest is Davarian Baldwin (https://internet3.trincoll.edu/facProfiles/Default.aspx?fid=1361623), Paul E. Raether Distinguished Professor of American Studies at Trinity University. He’s the author of In the Shadow of the Ivory Tower: How Universities are Plundering Our Cities (https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/davarian-l-baldwin/in-the-shadow-of-the-ivory-tower/9781568588919/?lens=bold-type-books) (Bold Type Books, 2021), Chicago’s (https://uncpress.org/book/9780807857991/chicagos-new-negroes/) (https://uncpress.org/book/9780807857991/chicagos-new-negroes/)New Negroes: Modernity, the Great Migration, and Black Urban Life (https://uncpress.org/book/9780807857991/chicagos-new-negroes/) (UNC Press, 2007), and co-editor of the essay collection Escape From New York! The New Negro Renaissance (https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816677399/escape-from-new-york/) (University of Minnesota Press, 2013). Davarian and I talked way back in March of 2024 about his growing up in a working-class family in a small Midwestern city, the early 1990s and the intellectual ferment of that time, graduate school at NYU, his career in academia, his founding of the Smart Cities Research Lab (https://trinitysocialjustice.com/smart-cities-research-lab/), and his work on the fraught relationship between universities and their surrounding communities. As always, the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-8:52: Introduction. 8:52-11:15: Talking Amsterdam, cannabis, the Spanish Civil War, the Lincoln Brigade. 11:15-15:40: Growing up in Beloit, Wisconsin, family background, storytelling, being a George Bush “Point of Light,” his early politics. 15:40-28:10: Marquette University, the early-1990s culture wars, early roots of his research trajectory, political activism, dabbling in PR, the Ronald McNair program, race consciousness, hip-hop at the turn of the ‘90s, realizing he could become a professor. 28:10-42:30: Transitioning to graduate school, being inspired by new scholarship, deciding to go to NYU, Robin Kelley, public intellectuals, Afrocentricity, initial struggles, grit. 42:30-53:10: Origins of Chicago’s New Negroes, hip-hop’s influence, choosing to study Chicago instead of New York, commercial culture, Harold Cruse, doing the research, long footnotes, resistance to the idea of everyday intellectuals. 53:10-1:07:40: Hitting the job market, getting hired at Boston College, adjusting to a different type of academic program, being a Black professor with White students, student evaluations, coming up for tenure. 1:07:40-1:17:45: Life after tenure at BC, going back on the market, Trinity College, “the Trinity way.” 1:17:45-1:29:15: Working on university-city relations, University of Chicago and the South Side, university police forces, the university as the factory of the twenty-first century, “univercities,” universities and slavery, promoting a book during Covid and then George Floyd. 1:29:15-1:50:45: The Smart Cities Research Lab, drawn into helping a community in Philadelphia, New Haven as a company town, bringing together ideas and advocacy, the Marguerite Casey Foundation, being a Freedom Scholar, doing work in the Netherlands, trying to reach a non-academic audience, how the research lab works, researching best practices for building equitable urban communities, final thoughts on today’s university as a vital site of struggle. 1:50:45-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

13. 

    22 Jan 2025

    Episode #7: A View from Inside the Cannabis Revolution (1964-2024), with Dale Gieringer

    Today on the podcast I talk to Dale Gieringer (https://norml.org/about-norml/norml-board-of-directors/dale-gieringer-ph-d/), the longtime head of California NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws). Dale came in last spring to talk about what it was like to be there for some of the most important shifts in twentieth-century drug history, from the explosion of drug-taking in the 1960s, to California’s historic Prop. 215, which legalized medical marijuana, through recreational legalization in that state in 2016. Dale was there and talks about all of it. You even get to hear stories about weed in 1960s New York City, hashish smoking at Harvard, taking LSD for the first time in 1968, and much more. As always, the podcast is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-4:10: Introduction. 4:10-11:00: Cincinnati in the early ‘60s, the drug scene in high school and college, first exposure to cannabis. 11:00-14:40: Being conservative as a college student in the ‘60s, the Vietnam War, the drug turn in the ‘60s. 14:40-17:50: Teaching math in Kentucky to avoid the draft, cannabis after college. 17:50-32:20: Taking LSD for the first time, various jobs post-college, moving to California at the turn of the ‘70s, graduate school at Stanford, the Reagan drug war, writing about DEA abuses, and becoming head of California NORML at the very low point of the legalization movement. 32:20-41:45: First initiatives, pursuing decriminalization, Dennis Peron, Jack Herer, The Emperor Wears No Clothes, the link to the environmental movement, Herer’s hemp initiative, Herer’s influence. 41:45-50:00: The San Francisco medical marijuana initiative (Prop. P), initiatives in other cities, efforts in the state legislature, birth of Prop. 215. 50:00-59:30: Getting Prop. 215 on the ballot, coming up with $300,000 cash, getting support from Ethan Nadelmann and various big donors. 59:30-1:05:50: Perspective on the historic Prop. 215, not knowing what would happen afterward, tabulating what kind of medical patients were out there, chronic pain. 1:05:50-1:10:00: Dale’s contribution to the cannabis historiography. 1:10:00-1:25:15: The 2010 California legalization initiative, Richard Lee, Oaksterdam, Oaksterdam University, Dale Sky Jones, optimism for legalization after 2008, disagreements over the wisdom of persuing legalization in 2010. 1:25:15-1:30:40: The economics of legalizing, learning from nineteenth-century India, California regulations. 1:30:40-1:47:15: 2016 legalization, 2014 roots, the Teamsters, more economics of legalization, red tape, rescheduling, failure of decriminalization in the ‘70s, final thoughts. 1:47:15-end: Outro. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com (https://isaaccampos.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)

14. 

    19 Dec 2024

    Episode #6: From 18th Century Central America to 21st Century Cincinnati, with Brianna Leavitt-Alcántara

    Historian Brianna Leavitt-Alcántara shares her personal journey from studying colonial Central America to her current research on the Maya rebellion, offering insights into the opioid epidemic and the power of mentorship.

15. 

    1 Oct 2024

    Episode #5: Psychedelics, Bigfoot, and the Nature of Belief with John O'Connor

    In the fifth installment of the History on Drugs podcast, John O’Connor joins Isaac to discuss his recently published book—The Secret History of Bigfoot: Field Notes on a North American Monster (https://read.sourcebooks.com/9781464216633-the-secret-history-of-bigfoot-hc.html) (Sourcebooks, 2024) (https://read.sourcebooks.com/9781464216633-the-secret-history-of-bigfoot-hc.html)—along with his new project on psychedelic guru Terence McKenna. They talk about the psychedelic renaissance, John’s trip to Colombia’s Putomayo region, how to successfully combine your coca and tobacco, the similarities between the “psychonauts” of the 1970s and today’s Bigfoot hunters, and many other topics, from life in the social-media age to fishing in Vermont. As always, the episode is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). You can read the History on Drugs newsletter here (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/). Episode Outline 0:00-5:18: Introduction. 5:18-12:58: Social media and its discontents. 15:58-19:10: Origins of John’s Terence McKenna project. 19:10-27:47: McKenna, La Chorrera, psilocybin, and hashish smuggling. 27:47-36:02: John’s trip to Colombia and Isaac's decision to abandon that trip. 36:02-45:00: Visiting La Chorrera, life there, and taking coca and tobacco with the locals. 45:00-59:05: John’s dad pursues psychedelic therapy, the Saskatchewan LSD experiments, treating alcoholism with LSD, Erika Dyck, Roland Griffiths. 59:05-108:16: Psychedelic legalization versus marijuana legalization, what is the economic model for legal psychedelics? Will LSD make a comeback? 1:08:16-1:24:06: Bigfoot hunting versus psychedelic hunting, academics in the wild, conspiracy theories versus expertise, encountering Bigfooters while on tour. 1:24:06: Outro. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

16. 

    20 Aug 2024

    Episode #4: Tales of the High Seas and the Soviet Union with Willard Sunderland

    This week’s guest is my colleague Willard Sunderland. Willard is the Henry R. Winkler Professor of Modern History at the University of Cincinnati and an expert on the history of the Russian Empire. Our conversation centers around a great adventure from which Willard had just returned—sailing a 32-foot sailboat from Lake Erie to Finland. Though there’s a lot of history involved in this too, as the trip shadowed the same route taken by John Quincy Adams back in 1809. We discuss not only the ins and outs of sailing a small boat across the North Atlantic, but Adams' earlier voyage and U.S.-Russian relations (and researching and writing a book about all of that). Willard also tells some amazing stories about visiting the Soviet Union in the 1980s as well as working as a translator on a Soviet fishing boat. This is a great, wide-ranging conversation that takes us from Ohio to Finland to the Soviet Union and back again. As always, the episode is available through Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/history-on-drugs-podcast/id1737673830), Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/show/7FRLeEgSuqJ9FTRuh5DaRQ?si=27e574acae1442e4), YouTube (https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTK8xZMhj6hL8MQXa9POaRxT_SEpemkoL&si=61zM0XiuemQGM48S), Pocketcasts (https://pca.st/xb3pnqb3), and the Substack app (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/podcast). Episode Outline 0:00-6:40: Episode introduction. 6:40-15:30: Describing the route from Lake Erie to Finland—Buffalo, Manhattan, Boston, Newfoundland, and the big water. 15:30-23:20: Dealing with storms and “rogue” waves. 23:20-33:10: Background on the trip, the inspiration, the preparation—buying, fortifying, and outfitting the big-water boat. 33:10-38:47: How the crew sleeps, being on watch, what one pays attention to while on watch. 38:47-1:06:35: Personal connections to Russia and the intellectual origins of the voyage, John Quincy Adams, U.S.-Russian relations, writing a book about the trip, the available sources from Adams’ voyage and retracing his route, landfall. 1:06:35-1:12:30: Willard’s approach to historical research, frequent travel to Russia, seeking inspiration from the experience of being there, how going to Russia in the 1980s inspired him to study history. 1:12:30-1:18:56: Glasnost and getting to the Soviet Union as a student in the 1980s, a freakish stroke of good luck that got him a spot on a student exchange. 1:18:56-1:28:50: Arriving in the Soviet Union, first impressions, meeting people in their homes where they could show their full colors, the excitement of seeing the Soviet Union open up. 1:28:50-end: Absurd luck and joining a Soviet fishing boat as a translator, life on a 300-foot Soviet ship, arbitrating disputes between American and Soviet fishing vessels, industrial-scale destruction of the world’s fisheries. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

17. 

    5 May 2024

    Episode #3: Addiction, Overdose, and Gender, with Nancy Campbell

    In this episode I talk to Nancy Campbell (https://faculty.rpi.edu/nancy-campbell) about a life in drug history. From growing up in small-town Pennsylvania, to Seattle and northern California in the 1980s during the height of the War on Drugs, to a historic 1990s summit of young drug scholars organized by the legendary David Musto (https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/14/us/14musto.html), to a quarter century of researching and publishing on drugs, gender, addiction, and overdose. Episode Outline (with approximate time stamps) 0:00-4:30: Episode introduction. 4:30-13:00: Growing up in Berwick, Pennsylvania; hanging around doctors’ offices; being the only girl on the high school cross-country team; working for the newspaper; learning about letter-press printing. 13:00-22:00: Beginning to notice drug users and the prejudice against them; becoming a rebellious thinker; the transformation of Nancy’s childhood region into a MAGA stronghold; deaths of despair; first intellectual ideas about drug policy and history; not interested in being “normal.” 22:00-29:00: Driving across the country with her college boyfriend to Seattle; letter-press printing shops; first taste of graduate school; studying science as culture; Donna Haraway; learning that all knowledge is bound up with power; Seattle in the late 1980s. 29:00-39:00: Moving to Mendocino County, California; letter-press printing at Yolla Bolly Press; seeing the War on Drugs up close in the Emerald Triangle; the back-to-the-land movement; the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting (CAMP); the War on Drugs on TV; getting inspired to study drug policy and its history. 39:00-43:30: Applying to “history of consciousness” at UC Santa Cruz; graduate school; reading Bruno Latour; working with Donna Haraway, Wendy Brown, Barbara Epstein; Angela Davis; dissertation on drug policy in the 1950s; drug users; first job at Ohio State. 43:30-49:00: The Daniel Hearings of the 1950s; employees of the Lexington “narcotics farm”; the crucial 1950s; feeling like a lone voice until David Musto convenes a big summit of young drug scholars. 49:00-57:00: David Musto’s scholarship and influence; the 1996 drug-history summit in New Haven; David Courtwright. 57:00-1:10:00: From Ohio State to science and technology studies at Rensselaer Polytechnic; the history of the “narcotic farms” and research on human subjects there; life on the “farm”; trying to make addicts “normal”; 1970s controversies about human-subjects research; Discovering Addiction; doing history of the present. 1:10-1:25:00: The initially overlooked opioid epidemic; buprenorphine; naloxone; harm reduction; overlooked overdose deaths; ODs have been ticking up since 1979; responding too late to the “chronic slow disaster” of OD deaths; fentanyl; questioning the numbers; polydrug overdose. 1:25-end: Are these deaths of despair?; uncounted overdose deaths; set and setting and overdose; fentanyl; the problems of data; drug-policy amnesia; Amitav Ghosh; hidden histories of overdose; balancing desire to stop overdose with the need for pain relief; limbic capitalism and the need for guardrails. History on Drugs newsletter: https://isaaccampos.substack.com/ (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

18. 

    14 Apr 2024

    Episode #2: From the "Upper Station of Low Life" to the Academy, with Jeff Zalar

    In this episode, my colleague Jeff Zalar (https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/zalarjy) joins me. This is a wide-ranging conversation that takes us from the post-industrial, working-class Rustbelt, to Panama and the first Gulf War (via the Marines), through graduate school at Georgetown, and finally to the University of Cincinnati. It’s a story of grit and determination with a heavy Midwestern accent. It also includes about the finest explanation of the value of a humanities education that you will ever hear. Plus thoughts on the culture of drinking in the military. You may not have heard of Jeff, but this conversation is definitely worth your time. Episode outline below. 0:00-4:00—Episode introduction. 4:00-18:15—Growing up in working-class, greater Milwaukee; Slavic immigrant roots; schooldays and learning to love learning. 18:15-27:00—Deciding to join the Marines; military intelligence; Panama; the Gulf War, and developing a deep thirst for education 27:00-33:30—The culture of drinking in the Marines. 33:30-47:00—Off to college; from struggles to excellence; the huge difference a professor can make; deciding to pursue academia. 47:00-56:30—Off to Graduate school; Washington, D.C. and Georgetown. 56:30-1:04:00—Finishing graduate school; humility and learning the value of teaching. 1:04:00-1:12:00—First academic job in California; life struggles; early teaching struggles; the critical role of grit. 1:12:00-1:23:00—Dumb luck and finding the right job posting; coming to Cincinnati and the challenges of pulling up stakes with a family. 1:23:00-1:28:30—Current project on Catholics and natural science in the nineteenth century; Campos interjects a story about the discovery of intoxicant cannabis in Mexico by an eighteenth century Catholic man of science. 1:28:30-1:41:00— The value of history and the humanities; cultivating excellence, virtue, integrity, humility, charity. 1:41:00—The story of Saint Boniface, which is the name of the Church near Campos’ house. You can hear the church bells at the start of the podcast. This was a totally unintentional coincidence, by the way. History on Drugs Newsletter: https://isaaccampos.substack.com/ (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/) This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

19. 

    24 Mar 2024

    Episode #1: Opium, Afghanistan, and the Life of a Historian, with James Bradford

    My guest this week is James Bradford (https://college.berklee.edu/people/james-bradford) of the Berklee College of Music. It’s a great conversation. James is a really interesting guy with a really fascinating story, and he generously shares a lot of it. We talk about his growing up in Maine, youthful drug use, families and addiction, becoming a historian, researching Afghanistan, opium, cannabis, and much much more. As I note in the introduction to the interview, there are a bunch of people and organizations that we talk about and don’t really explain, so I’m going to list them here in roughly their order of appearance: The Drug Page (https://www.thedrugpage.org/) is a website that I created. It brings my research on marijuana in the United States to a broader public. SeepeopleS (http://www.seepeoples.com/about) is James’s brother’s band. The Alcohol and Drugs History Society (https://www.alcoholanddrugshistorysociety.org/) (ADHS) is our professional association. Emily Dufton (http://www.emilydufton.com/) is a historian who has written about marijuana in the United States. Haggai Ram (https://www.downboundbooks.com/item/jox8MGWXPI5oBRm9xMH52Q) is a historian who has written about hashish in Mandatory Palestine and Israel. Erika Dyck (https://artsandscience.usask.ca/profile/EDyck#top) is a historian and current president of the ADHS. She’s writes a lot about psychedelics. David Herzberg (https://arts-sciences.buffalo.edu/history/faculty/faculty-directory/herzberg-david.html) is a historian who has written a lot about drugs and the pharmaceutical industry in the United States. David Courtwright (https://davidcourtwright.domains.unf.edu/) is the dean of American drug historians. He coined the terms “limbic capitalism (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/p/31-limbic-capitalism-in-michigan),” “psychoactive revolution,” and more. Paul Gootenberg (https://www.stonybrook.edu/commcms/history/people/_faculty/gootenberg) is the dean of Latin American drug historians. He has written a lot about cocaine. He was also on my doctoral committee many moons ago. Oliver Dinius (https://history.olemiss.edu/oliver-dinius/) is a historian of Brazil and was a colleague of mine in graduate school. Matthew Connelly (https://history.columbia.edu/person/connelly-matthew/) is a historian of international and global history and my first mentor in this business. James Mills (https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/millsjimprof/) is a historian who has worked on cannabis in the British empire and cocaine in Asia. Patricia Barton (https://www.strath.ac.uk/staff/bartonpatriciadr/) is a historian of pharmacy and drugs in the British empire. AHA: American Historical Association (https://www.historians.org/). MESA: Middle East Studies Association (https://mesana.org/). Stephen Snelders (https://www.uu.nl/staff/SAMSnelders) is a historian who writes about drugs in the Netherlands and beyond. Lucas Richert (https://apps.pharmacy.wisc.edu/sopdir/lucas_richert/) is a historian of pharmacy and psychedelics. David Guba (https://www.downboundbooks.com/item/ixu8OOwXWZYlVxX6zEZoHA) is a historian who has written about cannabis in France. Ethan Nadelmann (https://drugpolicy.org/person/ethan-nadelmann/) is a drug-policy-reform legend. He’s also got a very interesting podcast (https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-psychoactive-84544756/) of his own. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe (https://isaaccampos.substack.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2)

Who has been a guest on History on Drugs Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Maia Szalavitz
• Paul Gootenberg
• Brianna Leavitt-Alcántara

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.8 / 5

13 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

4 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 35 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

41

Social presence

0

YouTube

0

Engagement

71

Contact History on Drugs Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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