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Episode 882: Synthetic Reefer Madness

Spencer Platt
/
Getty Images

The business of getting people high used to require fields of poppies or marijuana, and the farmers to farm them. Over the last two decades, a new generation of potent synthetic drugs has revolutionized the illicit drug trade. These drugs are cheap, easy to make in factories, and difficult to regulate. Now, it's possible to become a kingpin with little more than an internet connection and an email address for a chemical plant in China.

Today on the show: We look at one synthetic drug — Spice — and tell the story of how it helped unleash a revolution.

Music: "Escape the Mind," "Edge of Fear," and "Spinning Piano."

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Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Alexi Horowitz-Ghazi is a host and reporter for Planet Money, telling stories that creatively explore and explain the workings of the global economy. He's a sucker for a good supply chain mystery — from toilet paper to foster puppies to specialty pastas. He's drawn to tales of unintended consequences, like the time a well-intentioned chemistry professor unwittingly helped unleash a global market for synthetic drugs, or what happened when the U.S. Patent Office started granting patents on human genes. And he's always on the lookout for economic principles at work in unexpected places, like the tactics comedians use to protect their intellectual property (a.k.a. jokes).
Kenny Malone is a correspondent for NPR's Planet Money podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Human podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C.'s homemade newspaper, Neighborhood News.