VICE Talks to the Steampunk Rocker Campaigning to Regulate Synthetic Drugs

Today, VICE debuts a new episode of Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, Cannabinoid 

Steam Punk Rock Opera featuring rock musician Matt Bowden. When synthetic drugs exploded onto the global market, New Zealand took a radically different approach than other countries by approving new recreational drugs. Matt Bowden, a flamboyant social activist and rock star, opens up about how he became a driving force behind New Zealand’s reformation of psychoactive synthetic drug use after seeing the way black-market drugs ravaged his friends and family.

Watch Matt Bowden’s Intergalactic Cannabinoid Steam Punk Rock Opera here on VICE: http://www.vice.com/video/matt-bowdens-intergalactic-cannabinoid-steampunk-rock-opera

VICE Correspondent Hamilton Morris joins Bowden at his Cannabinoid lab to discuss his motivations to explore safer alternatives for addictive drugs, and learns how a steam punk aesthetic aligns with his visions of enlightenment and better pharmaceutical therapies. On his intentions for creating the lab, “I’m not actually promoting drug use, I’m promoting safer policy. Together we can end the war on drugs.” Then they go to China and end up at another Cannabinoid factory, where they film a music video with a message to take a stance on drugs.