The Peace On Drugs

William "Rhino" Mueller returns to the podcast as the first "in studio" guest since the studio was destroyed in hurricane Ian! A conversation weaves through many topics and many pet interruptions as Rhino and Aaron discuss drugs and addiction, mental health, and spiritual growth- And Rhino's unicycle adventures!

In this episode we throw it back to the Sunday's Psychedelic Spirit days and hope we can help people kick off 2025 with an amazing start. We are all our awareness riding along in our biological spaceships, our meat suits, our flesh bodies- And we need to take a look at the manual- What fuel are we using? What maintenance are we doing? How did our autopilot get programmed with all these bad habits and how can we reprogram it? What's the point of flying the damn thing in the first place? Let's find out!

With algorithms and artificial intelligence we are entering a new age of information. These are technologies unlike anything the world has ever created. For the first time our inventions can make decisions on their own. Facebook algorithms have replaced the news editor and they have potential for breeding chaos and we need to talk about it. 

Candace, an addiction counselor and tough love advocate, joins us to discuss and debate. And she asked that this podcast not be released, so if you want her name, you'll have to listen!

TJ talks about traveling through time, experiencing the Big Bang and flying through the universe on a spacecraft known as DMT! He explores his insights and takeaways from going to a psychedelic retreat right here in the wonderful US of A!

Andy has written for Rolling Stone, ESPN, and Forbes. His new book is Ninety Days in the 90's.

Kimberly is a Navy Veteran, diagnosed with PTSD. She struggled with addiction and is now a peer support specialist. She is the Louisiana State Leader of a national nonprofit organization raising awareness of veteran suicide. 

Aaron hangs in Gastonia with childhood friends Brandon and Jason Robbins! Jason went from drug dealer facing decades behind bars to becoming a preacher and writing the book, "From Prison to the Pulpit."

After being arrested in Beijing for possession of 1.5 grams of cannabis, Chancellor returned to the states and wrote the book "14 days in Beijing" to share his experience. 

We survived hurricane Ian! Here is our story.

Aaron joined David in Asheville, NC to talk about drugs and do some as well.  David and his wife own the Pied Piper smoke shop chain and the adult stores, Love Nest in the NC mountains and he and Aaron are lifelong friends.

Chelsea and Suzanne host the Stiicky Eddie Podcast and joined Aaron to talk about addiction and substance use disorder and they discuss ways we could change the world and make it a safer place for people who suffer from addiction and mental illness.  

Charlie joins Aaron in the studio to discuss the war on drugs and the many ways it has affected their lives.

Josh hosts the Pineal Podcast. He and Aaron talk global consumption and the state of the world and what we can do to better ourselves. 

Spencer is author of "Social Security Disability Revealed" and he joins us to discuss how drugs and alcohol can be used to deny access to social security benefits.  

Ben Boyce is an author and prison educator and he hosts the Dr Junkie Show podcast.

De'Vannon is host of the podcast and author of the book Sex, Drugs, and Jesus. We talk drugs, addiction, and recovery and religion and spirituality. 

Harrison is a cannabis and psychedelic lawyer in Toronto, Canada. 

Larry is a specialist in addiction medicine, was the first to write about AIDS in the press and is co-founder of Gay Men's Health Crisis. He is also an author and his books are available at LawrenceDMass.com

Teza is an author, artist, and spiritual activist. She Co-hosts the ZLORD podcast with her husban, Carter Lord. 

Al is a cannabis activist, CBD Educator. Holistic health advisor. Patient zero.  He has been selling cannabis since 1987!

Michaell is an artist and art educator and he joins the podcast to talk about drug prohibition and the societal and structural problems that are at the root of substance use.

This is Smoke in the Air- Elephant in the Room (Part 2).  After Roe V Wade was overturned by a conservative supreme court, women's rights is now the most important issue in the country and we need to talk about it.  Aaron's wife, Meagan Rose takes lead on this episode.  This is the Peace on Abortion.  

Shoshana is Assistant Professor, Department of Family and Community Health at Pennsylvania School of Nursing where she works to increase access to substance use disorder treatment and harm reduction services.  

Happy Fourth of July! Or is it? Let's talk politics, religion, history, immigration, and of course the war on drugs.

This is one segment of the Elephant in the Room (Part 1) which will be released in its entirety on Monday July 4th.

Terri Joins the Peace On Drugs to tell the story of her long road to recovery, and her and Aaron talk about the war on drugs and addiction.

Prince Bull is Executive Director at the West African Drug Policy Network. He is fighting to decriminalize drugs and to stop the arresting and incarceration of drug users across the nations of West Africa.

Gretchen is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of A New PATH and the Lead organizer of the Moms United to End the War on Drugs campaign. 

Scott is a true crime author.  His latest book is "Hitmen: The Mafia, Drugs, and the East Harlem Purple Gang."

Dr Bethany Halford- Science writer and senior correspondent at c&en. Chemical and Engineering News.  

Aaron's lifelong friend and fellow musician joins us to talk about music, addiction, and recovery.

Will is the CEO and Founder of Grasshopper farms, an outdoor cannabis farm.  They have 31 strains on 160 acres and are the leading Michigan cannabis farm.  

Scott is a substance abuse expert, crisis coach, and author of "The Opioid Epidemic: What You Don't Know Will Destroy Your Family and Your Life.

Michael Rosino is author of "Debating the Drug War- Race, Politics, and the Media."  He is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Molloy College.  

Happy 420!  Aaron, Adam, and Will are lifelong friends and they got together to celebrate the holiday and discus cannabis and have a good time.  

Jimi Fritz is a writer, filmmaker, and musician.  For many years he dealt psychedelic drugs and he shares his story in his latest book, Confessions of an Ethical Drug Dealer.  

Katinka has her Doctorate in Cultural and Global Criminology.  She researches harm reduction, specializing in performance and image enhancing drugs.  

Alex if founder of the Albertus Project, a nonprofit organization with a vision of transforming the way the world views addiction from a mindset of blame and shame to one of compassion and support.  

Benjamin Boyce, PhD, is the author of Dr. Junkie.  One man's story of addiction and crime that will challenge everything you know about the war on drugs.   

Micheal and Bigg John were the first two guests on the Peace on Drugs Podcast and have returned to celebrate the podcast's one year anniversary.

Chris Cauhape is author of Parlor Whales: A City Hall Brawling Borderlander's Memoir of Drug Prohibition's Collateral Mayhem, and How to Use America's Most Powerful Weapon to Conquer Substance Abuse.  

Maia is a Neuroscience Journalist.  Contributing Opinion Writer, New York Times.  She is a New York Times bestselling author and her latest book is Undoing Drugs: The Untold Story of Harm Reduction.  

Kevin is a cannabis entrepreneur and joins Aaron from Colorado to talk bitcoin, cannabis, and the war on drugs.

Sister Kate is founder of Sisters of the Valley.  They are a sisterhood that operates a CBD Hemp farm and online business out of California.  Sister Kate joins the Peace on Drugs Podcast and talks about her journey and how the sisterhood began.  Her and Aaron also discuss the war on drugs, religion, and politics.  

Phillip is a retired attorney from the New York bar and author of the books The Mafia and the Gays, Jersey Queens, and Railroaded: The Homophobic Prosecution of Brandon Woodruff for His Parent's Murders.  In this episode he talks with Aaron and explains that the LGBTQ community has been hit exceptionally hard in the war on drugs and is over-represented in the US criminal justice system.  

A brief explanation of why 

How do you take care of your language system? Or have you ever considered it?  That voice that talks constantly inside your head, directing you to say, do, feel, and act.  The voice that can give you anxiety by reminding you of a fear or past mistake.  Or signal your body to release adrenaline when you are hiking and it asks if there are bears in these woods?  Or trigger happiness and a release of serotonin when it reminds you of an upcoming date with a person you admire- anxiety when it asks what you do if they don't show.  How can we nourish this mental system and train it to be a positive influence on us and those around us?  Let's talk about it.  

When Marc was 19 years old he went to prison for 4 years and spent another 4 years after failing drug tests on parole.  He is currently writing his memoir and he joins us from North Carolina to tell his story.  

Nick McLaughlin hosts the Stationary Astronaut Podcast!  Aaron and Nick talk about his trips into the Amazon rainforest with ayahuasca and his spiritual journey.  They discuss reincarnation and the afterlife, the war on drugs and the peace on drugs on an epic ride into the cosmos.  Enjoy!

Carlyn Zwarenstein is a Toronto writer- her second book is titled "On Opium" and can be ordered online through her Twitter @CarlynZwaren.  In this episode Aaron and Carlyn talk about the opioid regulation crisis and addiction and suffering and some of the things we can do as a society to solve these problems.