Guesting this episode is investigative writer John Potash, author of the books ‘The FBI War on Tupac Shakur and Black Leaders’ and the more recent ‘Drugs as Weapons Against Us.’ John draws on research collated for these books to discuss how drugs have been used to shape sub-cultures and subvert activist scenes, always at the hands of government agencies such as the CIA and FBI.
Additionally John’s work has documented how certain maverick musicians have fallen foul of the control agencies over the decades, and drugs have often been used to either bring them back to conformity. or in extreme cases, knock them off. Examples discussed include Tupac, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones, John Lennon and George Harrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. We get into Courtney Love and her role in ensuring that both the Grunge and UK rock scenes became flooded with heroin.
Every culture-shifting scene over the decades has had its own drug of choice - from LSD in the 60s counter-culture, through to the MDMA of the rave scene, and the fingerprints of the intel agencies are never far from the surface.
Listen to "GVP#117 - John Potash - The Weaponisation of Drugs" on Spreaker.
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