#190. The History of the Opioid Trade, Legal and Illegal

Benjamin Robert Siegel is a history professor at Boston University and former writer for Time Magazine. His writing has appeared in both mainstream media and academic journals, focusing on economic issues that affect everyday life, including food production and drug supplies. His first book, Hungry Nation: Food, Famine, and the Making of Modern India, published in 2018, explores the struggle of newly independent India to overcome famine and malnutrition. His second book, Markets of Pain: Opium, Capitalism, and the Global History of Painkillers, published two months ago, tells the story of opium, its cultivation and trade, both legal and illegal, and its role in the building of empires and the fomenting of international conflicts. Siegel’s next book will be about the the price of protein, i.e., its political and environmental costs. This interview will focus primary on his most recent book, Markets of Pain.Recorded 5/26/26.