The Joy Plant: 5,000 Years of Opioid History Before Oxycontin’s Reign of Terror

Before OxyContin. Before the Sacklers. Before fentanyl hit the streets — humans were already hopelessly tangled up with the opium poppy.In this episode, Loudness traces opioids from their origins in 3400 BCE Mesopotamia — where the Sumerians called it "the joy plant" — through laudanum, morphine, soldier's disease, Bayer's heroin-for-children campaign, and the slow-release revolution that set the stage for the worst pharmaceutical disaster in American history.This isn't just history. It's the story of why 30 years of Loudness's life went the way it did — and why yours, or someone you love, might be going the same way right now.Part 1 of 3. Next episode: the crimes of Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family, McKinsey & Company, and everyone who looked the other way.The Loudness McEvil Symposium — addiction, homelessness, recovery, and the occasional unfiltered opinion on how the world actually works.