Dopey 550: The Anesthesiologist Who Shot Adrenaline and Fentanyl, Dr. Jason Giles, Hitler, Freud, Halsted, Addiction Recovery

This Week on Dopey! We are joined by Oro Recovery Medical Director - Dr. Jason Giles! We also read old comments and hear from a few dopes in the dopey nation. Then Dave interviews Dr. Giles —twice board-certified in addiction medicine (via ABAM then ABPM), previously board-certified in anesthesiology and pain medicine, and a recovering opioid addict. He grew up in Santa Monica with a severely alcoholic father, fell into the second-wave ska/mod scene (Vespa, sharkskin suits, amphetamines), dropped out of high school, then clawed his way through community college to Berkeley , volunteering at the Berkeley Free Clinic and falling in love with medicine. He explains anesthesia’s demands (no pain, no memory; muscle relaxants; airway control), the human connection of pediatric anesthesia , and the hope-work of pain management . In 1999, curiosity and stress led him to divert fentanyl : he edited paper records, carried a 2 mL syringe for a month, then IV-used with sterile technique. After a six-week gap he used again, convincing himself he could “handle it.” Use escalated to daily “after work,” leaving him in daytime withdrawal. The department chair paged him about missing fentanyl; instead of punishment, he offered help and a path into California’s 5-year diversion program (treatment, meetings, testing). Giles detoxed cold turkey , went to AA (first meeting mostly doctors), found he wasn’t unique, and built long-term sobriety (nearly 26 years by his telling), learning service and vulnerability through treatment feedback groups . With sobriety he finished residency, married, had a son, worked in cardiac anesthesia and pain, and then moved into addiction treatment (Malibu), where his science and lived experience met the work. He and Dave range widely: purpose/mission as a recovery engine; Bill W., boomerangs and ants; truth-serum myths; Halsted (cocaine→heroin), Freud letters , Hitler’s amphetamines/opioids (book Blitzed ), kratom (mixed withdrawal profiles), benzos vs. opiates (benzo withdrawal = fear), intraoperative awareness & memory , Suboxone vs. abstinence (cast/training-wheels framing), fentanyl’s dominance (counterfeit pills; heroin now rare), and whether fentanyl appears in non-opioid street drugs (he says he’s seen it). ALL THAT AND MUCH MORE ON A BRAND NEW EPISODE OF THAT GOD OLD DOPEY SHOW! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.