607. Is America Switching From Booze to ...

Great. Then depressed. Then great again. Stephen Dubner gets the full story from David Lang; we also hear from some fans, and the New York Philharmonic’s president. The math and the aftermath of wealth of nations. (Part two of a series.) SOURCES: David Lang, composer and professo ... Show More

Economists and politicians have turned him into a mascot for free-market ideology. Some on the left say the right has badly misread him. In this updated replay of a 2022 episode, we hold a very Smithy tug of war. SOURCES: Eamonn Butler, co-founder and director of the Adam Smith I ... Show More

That’s what the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer David Lang wanted to learn. So he turned Adam Smith’s The Wealth of Nations into an oratorio. We tag along as Lang’s piece heads toward its world premiere with the New York Philharmonic. (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES: Fle ... Show More

Benjamin Y. Fong is author of the new book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which was just released in July, 2023 by Verso Books. Ben is an honors faculty fellow and associate director of the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State Un ... Show More

Voters in Florida will have the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” to legalize adult-use marijuana in November. If at least 60% of voters approve the measure, it would open the recreational marijuana market to consumers. If approved, Florida would join 24 other states that have le ... Show More

There's so much discussion in the contemporary United States about marijuana. Debates focus on legalization and medicalization. Usually, Reefer Madness, Harry Anslinger, and race are brought into the conversation. But a big part of the larger marijuana story is missing. In Chris ... Show More

<p><i>Warning: this episode contains descriptions of a mental health crisis and violence.</i></p><p>This Election Day, recreational marijuana could become legal across more than half of the United States. But as more Americans consume more potent forms of the drug more often, a T ... Show More

Since 1974, The legendary magazine High Times has been the preeminent source for everything Cannabis. From cultivation and legalization, to entertainment and culture, to hard-hitting news exposing the War on Drugs. The Iconic magazine coverage of the cannabis lifestyle has helped ... Show More

David Pozen is the Charles Keller Beekman Professor of Law at Columbia Law School and the author of the new book, The Constitution of the War on Drugs (Oxford UP, 2024). An expert in constitutional law, Pozen argues that the drug war has been an unmitigated disaster, in terms of ... Show More

Drug-related deaths are at their highest levels in England and Wales since records began 30 years ago.Scotland has had the highest number of drug deaths in Europe for at least seven years. And the UK has even seen opioid-related deaths surpass the number of people dying in road t ... Show More

George Fisher, the Judge John Crown Professor of Law at Stanford Law School, just released his new book Beware Euphoria: The Moral Roots and Racial Myths of America’s Drug War, with Oxford University Press. George has been teaching and writing in the realms of evidence, prosecuti ... Show More

<p>“Make America Healthy Again” is a great idea — somebody should try it.</p><p>A lot of the concerns animating the MAHA movement — chronic disease, the unhealthiness of the American diet, how profits warp our health care system — are serious issues. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has ... Show More