Inspired by two-time Offies nominee and winner of Summerhall’s Lustrum Award The Political History of Smack and Crack, a new podcast will be released this September exploring the international narcotics trade of the 20th Century all the way to the heroin epidemic of the late 1980s in the UK. Comprising of six half hour episodes, this limited series globetrots through a history encompassing US prohibition, the Sicilian Mafia, World War Two, the establishment of the CIA, revolutions of the 1980s, the Golden Triangle and much more.
Writer Ed Edwards said, During the writing of The Political History of Smack and Crack we toured early drafts around the country to semi-professional boxers in Barnsley, students in Manchester, addicts in treatment and others. The overall reaction was, “The history stuff is fab, but too hard to follow in the play, tell us more afterwards.” So in the play we stuck to the central contention, that the hard drug epidemic in 1980s Britain emerged as an essential part the west’s wider response to revolutionary challenges it faced both world-wide and in the UK itself at that time.
With the podcast we want to fill in the rest of the history in a way that is both entertaining and easy to follow. From the CIA’s collaboration with the Italian mafia and the French connection at the end of World War Two, through the establishment of the Golden Triangle after the Chinese revolution and the mujahidin and the Ronald Regan’s Contras who gave us smack and crack during the revolutions of the 1980s, to the current crisis in Mexico: this is the political history of smack and crack as you’ve never heard it before. In detail, no holds barred.
Presented by Ed Edwards and Eve Steele, who between them have experience of the criminal justice system and are also both professional writers for stage, screen and radio, the podcast will feature guest appearances from experts, addicts and social historians. The podcast is produced by Serafin Dinges, a freelance journalist and podcast producer whose previous work has been featured in publications such as Deutschlandfunk and Vogue. More on Serafin Dinges here: https://serafindinges.com/?lang=en
Distributed through Anchor on Spotify and also available on other podcasting services, episodes will be released from Thursday 1st September, and you can register your interest in the series here: https://anchor.fm/smack-and-crack
