In 1971, President Nixon declared drug abuse ‘public enemy number one’— the first salvo in America’s War on Drugs. Fifty years later, with drug overdoses in the US at a record high, are we any closer to ‘victory’? The War on Drugs has a more profound effect on society than any of us really understands. It is embedded in the fabric of our culture and permeates our daily lives in visible and invisible ways – perhaps the most daunting pandemic we face.

Lava for Good’s The War on Drugs podcast, co-hosted by comedian Clayton English and Greg Glod, senior criminal justice fellow at Americans for Prosperity, examines the true cost of five decades of policy, policing, and persecution. Special guests, including diverse subject matter experts, peel back the surface of this complicated period of US history, showing the ways the War on Drugs has fueled over incarceration, exacerbated addiction and hampered economic progress. By shining a spotlight on how our communities have crumbled under the weight of this so-called ‘war,’ we can explore the politicization of public health policy, institutional racism and classism in the legislation and administration of criminal law, and how decriminalization and other alternatives could bring the fruitless ‘war’ to an end.

The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday beginning January 25 wherever you get your podcasts.

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The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our co-hosts Clayton English and Greg Glod, along with guest Johann Hari discuss the long-forgotten mastermind behind America’s War on Drugs: Harry Anslinger - the infamous head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics toward the end of Prohibition. Desperate to justify his agency, and secure funding from Congress, Anslinger, by all accounts a virulent racist, fabricated stories about the dangers of drugs by demonizing minority communities four decades before Richard Nixon's declaration of war on drugs.

A new episode of The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the wake of college basketball star Len Bias’s death from a cocaine overdose, Congressional Democrats sought to retake the Senate by portraying themselves as tough on drugs. What resulted was one of the most destructive pieces of legislation in the entire history of the War on Drugs, the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. Among its key provisions was the introduction of federal mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenses. The result was generations of men and women, disproportionately from minority communities, lost to over incarceration.

Clayton and Greg talk with Eric Sterling, the special counsel to the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary from 1979-1989, who helped write the mandatory minimum sentencing laws that were part of the legislation. Clayton and Greg also talk with Eric about a little-known figure in the War on Drugs, a D.C. police officer who served as a chief investigator for Congress before he was discredited for perjuring himself hundreds of times as a government witness.

A new episode of The War on Drugs will be available every Wednesday wherever you get your podcasts.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clayton and Greg are joined by comedian and activist Eric André. In October 2022, Clayton and Eric sued the Clayton County Georgia Police Department (CCPD) and district attorney's office for being racially profiled, separately, at the Atlanta-Hartsfield Airport. Clayton and Eric speak to the anger and humiliation of being stopped on the jet bridge of their plane as they were boarding. But their lawsuit uncovered something neither expected, the CCPD seized more than $1 million from travelers even though they found no illegal drugs on them and the travelers were never charged with a crime. The CCPD relied on a constitutionally suspect practice known as Civil Asset Forfeiture.

To learn more and get involved, visit:

https://www.policingproject.org

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clayton and Greg chat with Jason Flom, CEO of Lava Media and host of the Wrongful Conviction podcast about the enormous amount of money spent on the War on Drugs.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Clayton and Greg sit down with Natalie Papillion from the Last Prisoner Project and talk about how thousands of people are still unjustly incarcerated for the simple crime of marijuana possession—a startling fact given that many states have since legalized the plant. Even more shocking is the fact that many of the people who wrote or enforced America’s drug laws are now making millions of dollars in the cannabis industry while thousands rot in jail serving lengthy prison terms for cannabis possession. Among them is Edwin Rubis, who is serving a 35-year prison term in a federal prison in Talladega, GA for conspiracy to distribute 2200 pounds of marijuana even though no drugs or money were ever found by police. Edwin’s release date is not until 2032.

To learn more and get involved, visit:

https://www.lastprisonerproject.org

https://www.lastprisonerproject.org/fathers-day-in-the-slammer

Edwin Rubis: edwinrubis@aol.com

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric André and the crew challenge the accuracy of drug sniffing dogs.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eric Sterling tells Clayton and Greg about the futility in how the War on Drugs is being waged in South America.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO TAKE PART IN OUR LISTENER SURVEY. YOUR FEEDBACK WILL HELP INFORM HOW WE MAKE PODCASTS IN THE FUTURE. AND YOUR COMPLETE AND CANDID ANSWERS WILL HELP US CONTINUE TO BRING YOU UNPARALLELED ACCESS AND INSIGHT INTO THE HEART OF SOCIAL JUSTICE IN AMERICA. SO PLEASE GO TO LAVAFORGOOD.COM/SURVEY
AND PARTICIPATE TODAY. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT.

The War on Drugs is a production of Lava for Good™ Podcasts in association with Signal Co. No1.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.