Opioid addiction
Subject in Medicine
Opioid addiction has come up in 6 episodes across 4 podcasts in TMT, including The Joe Rogan Experience, Stuff You Should Know, REAL AF with Andy Frisella. 6 people have made recorded remarks about it.
What people said
Mariana van ZellerPortuguese-American Peabody and Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist, host of Trafficked with Mariana van Zeller
Van Zeller recommends diverting even a small share of enforcement spending to demand-side treatment.
“even if it's just like 10% of the money that you spend on enforcement, let's put that on actually treating the demand side of it”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2567 - Mariana van Zeller (Oct 16, 2026) · Listen from 2:22:50
Van Zeller states that about a million Americans have died in the opioid epidemic over roughly two decades.
“A million people have died from the opiate epidemic in the last 20 something years”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2567 - Mariana van Zeller (Oct 16, 2026) · Listen from 2:06:22
Van Zeller warns of nitazenes, a new synthetic opioid she says is far stronger than fentanyl.
“there's a new drug out there right now called nitazines that is 50 times more powerful than fentanyl”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2567 - Mariana van Zeller (Oct 16, 2026) · Listen from 2:00:28
Van Zeller says most fentanyl enters the U.S. through official ports of entry rather than between them.
“I think 95 percent of fentanyl comes across the official board ports of entry, right?”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2567 - Mariana van Zeller (Oct 16, 2026) · Listen from 1:58:34
Darren PrinceAmerican sports and celebrity agent, founder of Prince Marketing Group, recovery advocate and author of Aiming High
Prince says his drug use had no serious consequences until age 21, when he was arrested four times in six months for possession.
“There wasn't really any ramifications, I would say, probably until about 21 when I was arrested four times in six months”
Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 25:05
Prince recounts that his first dose of liquid Demerol at age 14 at sleepaway camp removed every feeling of inadequacy.
“I felt like Superman. I was on top of the world. I felt just as smart, just as popular, just as good-looking”
Unblinded with Sean Callagy: From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean Callagy (Mar 26, 2026) · Listen from 16:42
Taylor SheridanAmerican screenwriter and producer, creator of Tulsa King
Sheridan argues that providing phones and needles to addicted homeless people is cruel and they should instead be taken off the street for treatment.
“Like if someone's to that point and you want to help them, don't give them a fucking iPhone and some more needles”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2517 - Taylor Sheridan (Jun 23, 2026) · Listen from 1:16:33
Josh ClarkCo-host of Stuff You Should Know
Clark said that by the mid-1950s Hughes was completely dependent on opioids and stopped appearing in public by 1961.
“By the middle of the 1950s, he was completely addicted to opioids, like totally dependent on them”
Stuff You Should Know: Howard Hughes in Las Vegas (May 28, 2026) · Listen from 8:22
Joe RoganAmerican comedian and host of The Joe Rogan Experience
Rogan says opioid makers told doctors their drugs were not addictive while knowing otherwise.
“They told doctors. They told people. They told everybody that it wasn't even addictive. They knew it was addictive”
The Joe Rogan Experience: #2492 - Ari Shaffir (Apr 30, 2026) · Listen from 30:01
Chad BiancoRiverside County sheriff and Republican candidate for governor of California
Bianco says he became addicted to prescribed pain pills within two weeks after knee reconstruction surgery and has refused them since.
“in taking that many pills every four hours, in two weeks, I got addicted”
REAL AF with Andy Frisella: 1015. Andy, Chad Bianco & DJ CTI: Communists At No Kings Rally, Ground Operations In Iran & Tiger Woods DUI (Mar 31, 2026) · Listen from 2:01:28
Coverage over time
Podcasts
- The Joe Rogan Experience · 3 episodes
- Stuff You Should Know · 1 episode
- REAL AF with Andy Frisella · 1 episode
- Unblinded with Sean Callagy · 1 episode
Episodes
#2567 - Mariana van ZellerThe Joe Rogan Experience · Oct 16, 2026 · 2 h 30 min
Joe Rogan and journalist Mariana van Zeller discuss romance and pig-butchering scams, Meta's profits from scam ads, Mexican cartels, the opioid crisis and drug policy.
#2517 - Taylor SheridanThe Joe Rogan Experience · Jun 23, 2026 · 2 h 50 min
Joe Rogan and Taylor Sheridan discuss ranching, his TV production methods, politics, COVID, fraud, ibogaine, espionage, and his new prison survival guide.
Howard Hughes in Las VegasStuff You Should Know · May 28, 2026 · 49 min
Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant recount Howard Hughes's reclusive, drug-addled years at the Desert Inn and his buying spree that reshaped Las Vegas.
#2492 - Ari ShaffirThe Joe Rogan Experience · Apr 30, 2026 · 2 h 42 min
Joe Rogan and comedian Ari Shaffir discuss Shaffir's seven months of off-grid travel, psychedelic drug policy, MMA weight cutting, Gaza, ancient megaliths, and his storytelling series The End.
1015. Andy, Chad Bianco & DJ CTI: Communists At No Kings Rally, Ground Operations In Iran & Tiger Woods DUIREAL AF with Andy Frisella · Mar 31, 2026 · 2 h 21 min
Riverside County Sheriff and California governor candidate Chad Bianco joins Andy Frisella and DJ to discuss No Kings protests, Iran ground operations and Tiger Woods' DUI.
From Celebrity Agent to Recovery: Darren Prince’s Untold Story with Sean CallagyUnblinded with Sean Callagy · Mar 26, 2026 · 1 h 12 min
Celebrity agent Darren Prince tells Sean Callagy how opioid addiction shadowed a career representing Muhammad Ali, Magic Johnson and Hulk Hogan.