Harm reduction is an imperfect philosophy that serves as the only  wedge between prohibition and what we all really want, which is a  healthy, productive society. If more police and prisons could make drugs  safer, we’d have a lot less overdose deaths and problematic addiction.  But that’s not what’s happening. Drugs are more available than ever,  while overdose deaths continue to shatter records. If this is a war, we  lost long ago. (Of course, as we repeatedly emphasize on this show, not  all drug use is addiction and in fact, most of it isn’t.)

Instead we have the prison-industrial complex. We have cops and  judges that take on the role of doctors. We have a system that is  designed to oppress, marginalize and criminalize rational human  behavior. Yet, harm reduction in prisons — arguably the one place where  it is needed most — is almost completely absent.

On today’s episode, Narcotica co-host Troy Farah spoke to someone who  is sadly, currently behind bars. Because of that, we are using their  adopted pseudonym, C. Dreams. C. is a writer and advocate interested in  prison and criminal justice reform, LGBTQ rights, harm reduction and  government and cultural criticism. She has studied history and theology  with the Third Order of Carmelites and completed degrees in Systematic  Theology and is currently studying law. C. has some brilliant writing  being published in Filter Magazine. They talk all about drug use in  prisons, from K2 to fentanyl, a positive methamphetamine story, the  problems with lack of syringe access, let alone access to buprenorphine  or methadone, and much much more.

Follow C. on Twitter at: @UnCagedCritique

Read C’s writing in Filter Magazine here: https://filtermag.org/author/c-dreams/

If you liked this episode, here are others you might enjoy:
Episode 26: Housing As Harm Reduction
Episode 75: Copaganda — The Favorite Tool of Drug Warriors with Alec Karakatsanis
Episode 45: Overdose Is Tragic, Not Murder with Morgan Godvin

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Producers: Christopher Moraff, Troy Farah, Zachary Siegel, Aaron Ferguson
Music: Glass Boy / Nomad1
Image: Shannon O’Toole via Flickr // edit: Troy Farah
Intro voice: Jenny Schaye