Naltrexone, also known by its brand name, Vivitrol, is an opioid antagonist that kicks opioids off of opioid receptor in the brain, not unlike naloxone. But thanks to a combination of overprescription, unscrupulous marketing practices and ubiquitous use o

Psychedelics and other drugs can trigger a condition called Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder, a terrible name for a real condition that we dont have much data on and is poorly understood. But while its clear that psychedelics shouldnt be

Its easy to hate the massive pharmaceutical corporations that extract obscene profit from the healthcare systemand there are many, many reasons why you should distrust these companies, although the situation is far more complex than Big Pharma = bad

Imagine banning a chemical that we all make in our bodies. But thats exactly where drug war logic takes us and why testosterone is Schedule III on the Controlled Substances Act, alongside ketamine and buprenorphine. Testosterone is painted as some dan

Psychedelics are not exactly taking the same path that cannabis has taken to the mainstream, but there are some similarities. In the late 90s and early aughts, when medical cannabis was first starting to take hold in California, quasi-legal businesses

On this episode, Narcotica co-hosts Zachary Siegel, Chris Moraff and  Troy Farah interview each other, riffing on one question: Is the drug  war getting better… Or worse? They cover everything from nitazenes,  Dopesick, the Drug User’s Liberation Front, b

Harm reduction programs like syringe access, supervised consumption  or even just handing out condoms on the street, can be some of the only  access to healthcare some people encounter. Definitely not all, but some  people who use drugs routinely shun goi

Booze is one of the most ancient and most prolific drugs in society,  yet for some reason, it’s always placed in some separate category. Drugs and alcohol. Even at Narcotica, we’ve done over 65 episodes about drugs and  not one of them has focused solely

Over the past two decades, as fatal drug overdoses have risen  precipitously, few professions have been hit harder by the crisis than  the medical community. Physicians in particular have found themselves in  the no-win position of being both blamed for t

These days, there isn’t an ailment some Silicon  Valley-esque startup is trying to treat with psychedelics. Of course you  have depression, anxiety, addiction, PTSD and fear of death for the  terminally ill—there’s some good data for treating all of that—