Forum From the Archives: Sam Quinones Investigates Dangerous Rise of Synthetic Drugs in 'The Least of Us'

KQED's Forum

KQED

News, News Commentary, Politics

4.2 • 727 Ratings

🗓️ 28 December 2021

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

As Sam Quinones was researching America's opiate epidemic for his award-winning 2015 book "Dreamland," he watched a troubling phenomenon emerge. As pain-pill prescribing fell, drug traffickers with unfettered access to the world's chemical markets began to fill the void with dangerous synthetic drugs. Opiate addicts began to switch to fentanyl and particularly potent forms of methamphetamine, ultimately driving overdose deaths to record levels in 2020. Quinones joins us to talk about the devastating impact of the synthetic drug era, as told in his new book "The Least of Us," and how communities are trying to recover. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Support for KQED podcasts comes from San Francisco International Airport.
0:05.3	You can fly back in time and visit SFO's Aviation Museum and Library to learn about the history of commercial aviation.
0:12.2	No boarding pass needed. Learn more at flysafo.com slash museum.
0:17.4	Greetings, boomtown. The Xfinity Wi-Fi is booming.
0:21.1	Xfinity combines the power of internet and mobile.
0:24.3	So we've all got lightning fast speeds at home and on the go!
0:27.6	Learn more at Xfinity.com.
0:29.7	Restrictions apply.
0:30.5	Xfinity Internet required.
0:31.5	Actual speeds vary.
0:33.7	From KQED.
0:36.9	Music. From KQED.
0:52.8	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Mina Kim. Coming up on forum, drug overdose deaths rose dramatically in 2020, according to CDC data. California saw
0:57.2	more than 40% increase. It's the devastating effect of what journalist Sam Cignonis calls
1:03.1	the synthetic drug era, street drugs, fentanyl and methamphetamine derived from chemicals instead
1:09.2	of plants and both frighteningly potent and deadly.
1:13.4	Gignanus has written about this shift to synthetic drugs in his new book, The Least of Us,
1:17.8	and about the people and communities trying to recover.
1:21.7	He joins us after this news. This is Forum.
1:35.3	I'm Mina Kim.
1:37.3	In 2015, when Sam Kinyas' award-winning book, Dreamland, about America's opiate epidemic came out.
1:45.1	A different and troubling phenomenon was already brewing.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from KQED, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of KQED and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.