The Len Bias Law (1986) w/ Adam McKay

This Day in Esoteric Political History

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It’s June 20th. This day in 1986, news of the death of basketball star Len Bias is starting to spread around the country. Bias died of a cocaine overdose just days after being drafted by the Boston Celtics.

Jody, NIki, and Kellie are joined by director and producer Adam McKay (The Big Short, Anchorman) to talk about how Bias’s death fueled a narrative about the dangers of cocaine and crack. Later that summer, politicians would rush through punitive drug laws that created mandatory minimum sentences and huge disparities between how crack and powder cocaine were treated.

Adam recently hosted a podcast series “Death at the Wing” which features an episode on Len Bias. Jody served as executive producer. Listen to it wherever you get your podcasts! https://www.threeuncannyfour.com/show/death-at-the-wing/

Find a transcript of this episode at: https://tinyurl.com/esoterichistory

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Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer at Radiotopia