Dopey 594: From Slinging Coke to Baklava on Phish Tour with Roy Donk, Dogs on Acid, Busted snorting Ketamine at Mohegan Sun,

Dopey 594: From Slinging Coke to Baklava on Phish Tour with Roy Donk, Dogs on Acid, Busted snorting Ketamine at Mohegan Sun,

Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction

Time Stamp: 00:00 – “Everybody Does Cocaine” opening song 02:06 – Oro Recovery 03:29 – Welcome to Dopey and DopeyCon ticket information 05:56 – Maddie B celebrates one year without alcohol 09:35 – Remembering Annie Ellie 11:30 – Dopey Day and the DopeyCon memorial video 13:00 – Mountainside 14:15 – Taylor’s darkly funny recovery voicemail 16:10 – Comments from the Christmas grief episode 20:10 – Workit Health 22:02 – Minnesota Matt’s crack overdose and seizure story 26:58 – California Miles on divorce, acceptance and recovery 29:17 – Recovery Unplugged 30:45 – Roy Donk joins the show 31:21 – Baklava, Knicks madness and going viral outside MSG 36:03 – Drugs, Phish, sobriety and baklava: the order of events 38:26 – Growing up in an Orthodox Jewish household 39:00 – Smoking K2 before trying marijuana 45:39 – Psychedelics and becoming a classic New Jersey stoner 46:40 – Arrested at school for a tiny amount of weed 48:00 – Dropping out of high school 53:00 – The GED, kosher bagel shops and Hasidic jobs 56:00 – Working at a Hasidic petting zoo 59:32 – A stoned friend gets hit by a car 1:01:50 – Early exposure to Phish and the Grateful Dead 1:06:25 – Robbing charity boxes and selling drugs 1:11:15 – Culinary school and cooking in New York restaurants 1:13:37 – Moving to San Diego and entering the weed business 1:15:58 – The Phish show that changed everything 1:20:47 – Acid, Halloween shows and falling in love with Phish 1:23:04 – Cocaine goes from pointless to irresistible 1:25:23 – Living in a van and selling cocaine 1:31:00 – Roy’s dog accidentally eats a stash of acid 1:36:38 – The San Diego crash pad begins turning dark 1:39:00 – Drug dealing, nitrous tanks and suicidal jokes 1:41:15 – Leaving California for New York 1:43:34 – Financing Phish tour by selling drugs 1:48:25 – Ketamine at the Mohegan Sun slot machines 1:50:42 – Arrested in a Phish robe with coke, K, Molly and pressed pills 1:55:23 – Rehab as the price for getting the charges dropped 2:00:03 – Claiming sobriety while using nitrous 2:02:30 – Relapse, remote work and the pandemic 2:04:53 – Mexico, Tulum and a massive drug binge 2:16:42 – Accidentally uploading the uncensored bender photos to work 2:19:06 – Getting fired and walking into AA in Mexico 2:21:24 – The darkness Roy initially left out of his story 2:23:50 – Selling ketamine to a friend who later overdosed 2:26:01 – Finally recognizing the cumulative destruction 2:30:37 – Admitting he is an addict and working the steps 2:33:03 – February 10: Roy’s sobriety date 2:37:26 – Returning to Phish tour sober 2:39:38 – The spiritual experience that made recovery feel real 2:41:57 – The accidental birth of the baklava business 2:44:09 – Finding the Turkish baklava connection in New Jersey 2:46:25 – Dave tastes the baklava 2:48:42 – SafeSpot overdose-prevention hotline 2:49:15 – Spotify comments about grief and the Christmas episode 2:53:12 – Closing thoughts and DopeyCon 2:54:36 – Jake performs “I Wanna Be Good So Bad” on banjo

AuthenticInspiringHonestInformativeHopeful

2:57:027 Aug 2026

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From Coke, Ketamine and Fish Tour Chaos to Baklava and Sobriety

Episode Overview

  • Recovery can take many attempts; a failed start doesn’t mean you’re finished.
  • Community – even via a podcast – can make recovery feel less lonely and more possible.
  • Grief and addiction often sit in the same “room” of life, but people can grow around both.
  • Court-ordered treatment and rehab can still plant real seeds for later sobriety.
  • Finding a new, non-using identity (like selling baklava instead of drugs) can support long-term change.
Keep fucking trying like, it could be the hundred and second time that you try that you get it.

What drives someone to seek a life without alcohol? This episode of Dopey throws you straight into that question with a mix of dark humour, heavy grief, and some wildly chaotic drug stories that somehow land on hope. You’ll hear from Maddie B in Australia, celebrating one year alcohol-free after what she calls being a “very low bottom alcoholic” – bed-wetting, psychosis, seizures, and litre-of-gin-level drinking.

Her message to anyone struggling is simple and sharp: “keep fucking trying like, it could be the hundred and second time that you try that you get it.” The tone swings from party to memorial as Dave remembers Annie Ellie, a long-time UK listener whose words about feeling part of an international recovery community are replayed after her death.

Dopey Day, the annual tribute to those lost to addiction, gets explained as an act of solidarity rather than a neat slogan about stigma. Voicemails from Taylor, Minnesota Matt, and California Miles add more layers: crack overdoses and seizures, grief over a brother lost to fentanyl, and trying to accept the end of a 38-year marriage without reaching for the old chemical solution. It’s messy, honest recovery, not a polished advert.

Then comes the long, chaotic conversation with Roy Donk – former coke and ketamine dealer, fish tour wook, and now the baklava guy chanting “good baklava, no drugs” outside Knicks games. His story runs from Orthodox Jewish childhood and shoplifting cologne, through living in a van selling coke and ketamine, to getting busted snorting K at Mohegan Sun and finally landing in AA in Mexico.

If you like your recovery content with equal parts tragedy, comedy and swearing, this one gives you real voices, real relapse, and real attempts at staying alive. Where do you see your own story in this mix of dumb shit and second chances?

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