607. Is America Switching From Booze to Weed?

How a secret project at Google led to driverless cars on American roads. Freakonomics Radio shares a story from our friends at Search Engine. (Part one of a two-part series.) SOURCES: Alex Davies, author of Driven: The Race To Create the Autonomous Car. Chris Urmson, co-founder a ...  Show more

A ruthless (and ruthlessly efficient) industry is using digital tools to supercharge one of the world’s oldest behaviors. We look at how the industry works, and ask the scam-fighters what they’re doing about it. SOURCES: Kati Daffan, former assistant director at the Federal Trade ...  Show more

Benjamin Y. Fong is author of the new book Quick Fixes: Drugs in America from Prohibition to the 21st Century Binge, which was just released in July, 2023 by Verso Books. Ben is an honors faculty fellow and associate director of the Center for Work & Democracy at Arizona State Un ...  Show more

Voters in Florida will have the opportunity to vote “yes” or “no” to legalize adult-use marijuana in November. If at least 60% of voters approve the measure, it would open the recreational marijuana market to consumers. If approved, Florida would join 24 other states that have le ...  Show more

There's so much discussion in the contemporary United States about marijuana. Debates focus on legalization and medicalization. Usually, Reefer Madness, Harry Anslinger, and race are brought into the conversation. But a big part of the larger marijuana story is missing. In Chris ...  Show more

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of a mental health crisis and violence.

This Election Day, recreational marijuana could become legal across more than half of the United States. But as more Americans consume more potent forms of the drug more often, a T ...