Journalist Sam Quinones says to understand the opiate epidemic, you have to look at the cultural baggage underpinning it. Poor people in Mexico are looking for a leg up, and disaffected people in the U.S. just want to check out.
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The journalist Sam Quinones has called opiate addiction “the closest thing to enslavement that we have in America today.” It’s a scourge fueled by pharmaceutical companies and drug cartels, and it takes advantage of some heavy cultural baggage on either side of the border. Poor people in Mexico are looking for a leg up, while disaffected people in the world’s richest country just want to check out. Quinones joins us to discuss the culture of the opiate epidemic. (Rebroadcast)
Sam Quinones is a journalist, former LA Times reporter and author of three books. His latest is called Dreamland: The True Tale of America's Opiate Epidemic [Indiebound|Amazon|Audible]