Downstream: Who Really Won the War on Drugs? w/ Kojo Koram

Downstream: Who Really Won the War on Drugs? w/ Kojo Koram

Author: Novara Media July 6, 2026 Duration: 1:20:40

Last year, Zack Polanski’s Green Party suggested changes could be made to Britain’s prohibitionist approach to drugs – and felt the full force of the mainstream media’s indignation.

But all over the world, the War on Drugs is shifting shape. Drugs are being legalised and commercialised. America now has its first legal weed-selling billionaire, while others serve out huge prison sentences for possession.

Ash Sarkar sat down with Professor Kojo Koram, to discuss his latest book The Next Fix: The Winners and Losers in the Future of Drugs, which travels from a plantation-turned-prison in Louisiana to the psychedelic boom of Silicon Valley.

So what does a drug policy fit for the 21st century actually look like?

 


Tune in to Novara Media for a distinct and probing take on the world as it is, and as it could be. This independent podcast offers a necessary space for the conversations often sidelined elsewhere, weaving together sharp analysis of current affairs with deeper explorations of culture, philosophy and power. Each episode naturally delves into the interconnected crises shaping our time-be it the fraying edges of our economic system, the urgent fight for climate justice, or the enduring struggles against structural inequality. The discussions are built on a foundation of radical thought and a commitment to imagining alternatives, moving beyond the day's headlines to examine the root causes and potential futures. Hosted by the team at Novara Media, the audio format brings a direct, engaging and often challenging perspective, featuring interviews, panel debates and solo commentaries that refuse simplistic answers. It’s for anyone who finds mainstream narratives insufficient and is looking for a podcast that treats politics, society and culture as the complex, urgent and deeply human matters they truly are.
Author: Language: en-gb Episodes: 50

Novara Media
Podcast Episodes
Downstream: The Secrets of the Chinese Internet w/ Yi-Ling Liu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:38:50
Take part in our audience survey: novara.media/survey In China in the 1990s, the arrival of the internet was swiftly met with the ‘great firewall’: a complex matrix of censorship, surveillance and state control. Since th…
ACFM Trip 59: Hobbies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:30:55
After mulling over the problem of boredom in the last Trip episode, the ACFM gang return with a solution: hobbies. In this episode Nadia, Jem and Keir wonder why hobbies tend to mutate into jobs, which hobbies are approp…
Iran Threatens Retaliation Against Trump’s Criminal Threats [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:02:39
Donald Trump has threatened to bomb Iran’s power plants in an expletive-laden Truth Social Post, and the U.S. account of its rescue of two airmen inside Iran raises more questions than it answers. With Michael Walker, Da…