This Week on Thinking Is Cool

On drug use, its sordid past, and the opportunities of the future

By luck or fate or some other reason, you’ve found yourself reading an email from Thinking Is Cool, *the* podcast to listen to if you want to have better conversations. If this email was forwarded to you, sign up for regular correspondence from me, Kinsey, right here:

[Michael Barbaro voice] It’s Tuesday...September 7. Objectively speaking, Monday federal holidays are the most elite federal holidays. Coming back to a four-day workweek >>>. May the “circling back on this” emails be sparse and the vibes strong this week. Let’s do some thinking.

And a brief disclaimer before I tell you about this week’s episode of Thinking Is Cool: I really, really want you to know that I am in no way trying to come off as a hardo, despite what you’re about to hear in this episode. Like I spent most of yesterday morning waxing poetic about the structural beauty of standardized testing from my childhood. Just keep that in mind. OKAY!

This Week on Thinking Is Cool

What’s that saying? Tweets are the first draft of history? In this case, it holds true: People do drugs.

They do drugs for tons of reasons. (They also don’t do drugs for tons of reasons.) Some people do drugs to feel better or to feel smarter or to feel more focused in a chaotic world. Some people do drugs to get outside their own mind. Some people do drugs to treat ailments traditional medicine ignores.

We all have different reasons and different highs. But the truth of the matter is this: Today, you’re hard-pressed to find anyone wearing one of those DARE “just say no” t-shirts without being drenched in irony. We’re not a society of “just say no” anymore.

The days of strict temperance began flitting away with the end of the Reagan era. In 2018, some 165 million teens and adults in the United States were substance users, meaning they consumed tobacco, alcohol, or illicit drugs. That’s about 60% of the population. I mean...can 60% of the adult population agree on anything anymore?

It seems they can when it comes to drugs: We feel more comfortable talking about getting high, we’re increasingly voting to legalize recreational adult drug use, and the medical community is becoming more and more amenable to drugs like cannabis and LSD as treatments.

That’s what we’re thinking about this week: The tides are changing, and any such phenomenon of shifting perspective inherently represents opportunity. As far as responsible adult drug use is concerned, mistakes have been made—among them the racially-charged and Nixon-crafted War on Drugs, the unfair policing it bred, and the systemic failure to offer those struggling with addiction the help they need.

Today, we have the chance to right the wrongs as our minds and perspectives change. But to do that, we need to think long and hard about drugs—why we do them, why we don’t, and what we can do to ensure history doesn’t repeat itself.

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I’m super proud of this week’s episode, and not only because I finally found the gumption to admit to my parents that I have in fact tried marijuana. I’m proud because it feels important and complete, and that’s in large part because of the people I spoke with in my reporting.

Those people: Many of them preferred to keep their full names private, which...respect, seeing as this was all about doing drugs. So you’ll hear from several friends—Ben, Shardul, and Kelly. Additionally, I had the privilege of speaking with justice reform advocate Ashish Prashar. I also drew a lot of inspiration from Michael Pollan, whose work you can check out here.

You can find the episode anywhere you get podcasts: Spotify, Apple, anywhere. I hope you’ll listen and share your thoughts.

And I’ll put this from the episode here, too—We’re about to talk about drugs, and because of that I feel the need to say two things off the bat:

  1. If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction and finding help, please please please reach out to me. I am not an expert, but I will do my damndest to help put you in touch with the right people at the right time. I got your back.

  2. It’s okay if you’ve tried drugs. This is a safe space. You can be honest with yourself and with me if you choose to do so. In fact, I think approaching today’s conversation with a healthy dose of honesty will make it that much more fun.

Happy listening, everyone. See you soon.

Xo,

Kinsey