#6 Neil Woods: Violence, corruption and moral injuries caused by fighting the war on drugs.

You can support this podcast on Patreon: http://patreon.com/curiousonearth My thoughts on / introduction to the episode: https://www.patreon.com/posts/89445902 Episode 6: Neil Woods, former UK police officer and undercover drugs operative. This episode was recorded on March 9th, 2023. Video version: https://youtu.be/kBokFgQ6gP4 Download mp3 on Soundcloud: Download mp3 on Soundcloud: http://soundcloud.com/curiousonearth/6-neil-woods Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3PFz5JZ Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/44UarK4 RSS: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:879419647/sounds.rss 00:00:00 Foreword 00:02:22 How a cop started opposing the drug war 00:05:26 In the beginning, Neil was a terrible cop 00:08:41 You can't talk your way through every conflict 00:11:02 Neil's pioneering undercover work in the UK 00:16:04 Why didn't UK cops learn from US cops? 00:20:14 Opposing approaches to doing undercover work 00:22:41 What people don't know about undercover work 00:27:12 The first time Neil thought he would die 00:30:35 Neil was a good liar. 00:32:41 Difficult ethical conclusions 00:34:27 When you can tell no one what you're doing 00:38:58 Neil's abusive relationship 00:43:19 Vicious encounters with The Burger Bar Boys 00:50:23 What you don't include in your reports 00:55:31 The knife in the groin 01:00:09 Neil's relationship with mortality and trauma 01:06:15 Neil and adrenaline 01:08:37 Saved by instinct and spontaneous aggression 01:16:28 Weaponizing empathy 01:21:16 How Neil and his colleagues harmed people and justified it 01:25:28 Does the militarization of police increase security? 01:33:05 Neil's shocking police corruption story 01:36:43 Instinct 01:39:16 Manipulating vulnerable people 01:42:34 Neil's systematic ruthlessness 01:44:40 Why do intelligent people disagree with Neil on the drug war? 01:51:12 Have the effects of cannabis legalization been a disappointment? 01:54:53 Disadvantaged people bear the burden of the drug war 01:57:35 Prince Harry's comments on psychedelics 02:00:53 How Neil decided to stop being a cop 02:05:55 Policy are leading drug law reform in the UK 02:08:32 Neil – public enemy number one 02:10:32 Short final questions 02:18:25 Afterword LEAP's (Law Enforcement Action Partnership) web page https://t.ly/YlCx_ Neil's web page https://t.ly/gjGeP Neil's Twitter https://twitter.com/wudzee0 Neil's books on Goodreads https://t.ly/gKB23 The Heroic Hearts project https://t.ly/hC1hU Jason Reed's Stop and Search podcast https://t.ly/wMUXB ----- Driven by a deep thirst for understanding, Curious on Earth is a slow enough podcast by Henry Soinnunmaa, Finnish musician, writer and amateur generalist. Facebook: https://facebook.com/curiousonearth Twitter: https://twitter.com/curiousonearth Instagram: https://instagram.com/curiousonearth