Episode 1 – ‘Come On, Put The Pins In!’

Thousands of individuals across America struggling with opioid and heroin addiction are benefitting from a 5 point ear acupuncture protocol called NADA (National Acupuncture Detox Association). In this first episode of DOPE IS DEATH we talk with Juan Cortez of NYHRE (New York Harm Reduction Educators) about the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating withdrawal symptoms and other secondary symptoms associated with drug use. We discover how radical activists, including members of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, and the Republic of New Afrika, developed this protocol almost 50 years ago at the dilapidated Lincoln Hospital in the South Bronx. They called their revolutionary drug treatment program the Lincoln Detox People’s Program. Featured guests are: Juan Cortez of NYHRE Dr. Samuel Kelton Roberts Jr. Dimitri Mugianis

Om Podcasten

By the early 1970s, heroin was flooding the streets of New York City. Black and Puerto Rican neighbourhoods like Harlem and the South Bronx were hardest hit. This four part podcast series explores how Dr. Mutulu Shakur, stepfather of the late Tupac Shakur, along with members of the Black Panther Party and the Young Lords, combined community health with radical politics to create the first acupuncture detoxification program in America. Over the course of the 1970s, the Lincoln Detox People’s Program became a fixture of hope in the South Bronx and detoxed thousands of people off of drugs. DOPE IS DEATH explores why this program was considered a threat to the political and social stability of the United States. And how its brightest star, celebrated community activist and healer Dr. Mutulu Shakur, ended up one of the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted until he was captured and convicted of RICO conspiracy. Today, 34 years later, Dr. Mutulu Shakur remains incarcerated. Civil rights hero or enemy of the state? DOPE IS DEATH dives deep into the history of COINTELPRO and other legal tools that law enforcement can utilize to repress political dissidents.