Radio host Dean Becker’s 600-plus interviews on drug policy are now archived on the Baker Institute website.
With cautious optimism, the Baker Institute Drug Policy program pursues research and open debate on local and national drug policies in the hope of developing pragmatic policies based on common sense and solid data, driven by human rights interests, and focused on reducing the death, disease, crime and suffering associated with drug use.
To further this initiative, the Institute has recently acquired a unique and valuable resource that will allow policymakers, scholars, and interested citizens to learn from the experience and insight of a wide range of informed people who have spent years grappling with these issues.
In 2000, Houstonian Dean Becker arranged with the New York Times Drug Policy Forum to host a series of online interviews, including live Q&A, with a range of drug policy experts, most of whom were critical of existing policy. Interviewees included Nobel Laureate economist Milton Friedman, Harvard professor Lester Grinspoon, New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson, California District Judge Jim Gray and others. Excerpts from those exchanges were collected into a widely circulated booklet titled “Drug Truth, A to Z.” Encouraged by the response he received, Becker began a weekly half-hour radio program on Houston’s KPFT (Pacifica) and has since added a daily three-minute program. At present, his programs are carried on 73 radio stations throughout the country.
As from the beginning, most of the interviewees are critical of existing drug policies, but Becker has repeatedly invited the head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (formerly called the “Drug Czar”) and other government officials to appear on his program, thus far without success. He has, however, interviewed a number of public officials who are approaching drug-related problems with a more thoughtful response than simply to “throw them in the can and sit on the lid.” Among recent interviewees are former Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford, El Paso City Councilman Beto O’Rourke, Houston District Attorney Pat Lykos, Harris County Sheriff Adrian Garcia and Anthony Placido, chief of intelligence for the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Approximately 600 of these programs are now available on the Baker Institute Drug Truth Archive. Transcripts accompany many of the recordings and others are being prepared. New programs will be added as they are aired. Anyone interested in reducing the harms of drug use and drug policy will find this a fascinating resource.
William Martin is the Harry and Hazel Chavanne Senior Fellow in Religion and Public Policy at the Baker Institute and the Chavanne Emeritus Professor of Sociology at Rice University. He leads both the Religion and Public Policy and the Drug Policy programs at the Baker Institute.