San Francisco has long been associated with psychedelics, but when it comes to mind-altering substances, no other drug may be as closely tied to the Bay Area as MDMA, often known as "ecstasy" or "molly." MDMA was basically unheard of until 1977, when Bay Area chemist Sasha Shulgin gave therapist Leo Zeff a homemade batch. Zeff found the drug nothing short revelatory and spent the remainder of his life evangelizing its therapeutic potential. But the drug quickly caught the attention of raver...
9 Jul 2025
A Home By Any Other Name
Homelessness may be California’s most intractable problem. Over the past decades, encampments have begun to feel like a permanent part of the California landscape. To many housed Californians, they are eyesores, but these communities provide their residents very tangible benefits: watchful neighbors, mutual aid networks, and a sense of belonging. This month on Radio Pacific, we have three different stories, from three different communities, from three different cities around the Bay Area – a...
4 Jun 2025
Los Angeles and Fire
Los Angeles has always been an ecological impossibility. Perched on the edge of the continent, the city is vulnerable to every conceivable catastrophe: earthquakes, tsunamis, mudslides, and of course, fire. Fifty years ago, Joan Didion wrote that “The city burning is Los Angeles’s deepest image of itself.” This year, in the dead of winter, that horror was realized yet again. On January 7, five different fires broke out across the city, overwhelming first responders. Fueled by the blistering S...
7 May 2025
Rapid Response Hotline
President Trump returned to power on the promise to “carry out the largest deportation operation in American history.” The campaign has already deported thousands, sent waves of terror throughout immigrant communities, and even pushed the country to the brink of a constitutional crisis. In our first episode, California legal scholar Kevin R. Johnson puts the first months of Trump’s administration in perspective and helps us understand California’s unique role and disturbing role in the countr...
22 Apr 2025
Introducing Radio Pacific
If you want to understand California, you should start with our ballot props. Thank you for listening to Radio Pacific, from KALW. We're fully independent, local media. The biggest thing you can do to support us is share this episode with your friends, and subscribe to and rate this feed! You can sign up for our newsletter at radiopacific.co. And please reach out, we'd love to hear from you: eli.cohen@radiopacific.co.
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Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
8 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 14 / 100
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Quality
16
Social presence
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YouTube
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Engagement
32
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