My Dad Drugged Me! Quaaludes at Eight,! After School Heroin,! Abuse,! Trauma! Dopey’s Greatest Hits: Suki JonesMy Dad Drugged Me! Quaaludes at Eight,! After School Heroin,! Abuse,! Trauma! Dopey’s Greatest Hits: Suki Jones
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
00:00 Opening 00:21 Chicken cutlets, family dinner & Survivor 02:44 Listener emails, Narcan & Doug’s fancy water 04:00 Snake’s 2C-B voicemail 08:15 The radiator & drugs Dave wishes he’d tried 10:56 Listener comments, medical marijuana & recovery 13:23 Introducing Suki Jones & Sea Swallow Me 18:14 Childhood, ear surgery & an unpredictable father 22:55 Pharmaceuticals, custody battles & a threatened hit 27:41 Given Quaaludes at eight 30:05 Getting back to California 34:47 A drunk gorilla & childhood fear 37:05 Vicodin at twelve & the Bay Area party scene 39:20 Cocaine at thirteen & surviving childhood sexual abuse 46:23 Opiates as an escape from trauma 48:36 Fighting back against her grandfather 50:59 Her mother discovers her diary 53:23 Tower Records, backstage passes & music 55:29 Modeling, marriage & becoming a young mother 01:00:12 Prescription pills & escalating addiction 01:02:38 Motherhood alongside the Bay Area party scene 01:04:59 Doctor shopping & living two lives 01:07:21 Heroin takes over 01:09:43 Getting high before taking the kids to school 01:12:02 Parenting, partying & the Claremont Hotel 01:14:11 Losing Casper 01:16:31 Music, grief & making amends to her kids 01:18:46 Another relationship & hiding drugs from each other 01:20:54 Mental health struggles & shadow squirrels 01:23:18 Methadone, a helpful counselor & trying meetings 01:25:39 Getting off methadone & wanting to change 01:28:02 Motherhood, accountability & telling her mom 01:30:26 Learning to live in recovery 01:32:51 Leaving the party scene & finding sober friends 01:35:15 Pandemic depression & finding connection through Dopey 01:37:28 Closing thoughts & outro
1:41:32•5 Nov 2026
Quaaludes at Eight, After-School Heroin and a Shot at Recovery with Suki Jones
Episode Overview
- Childhood trauma, including quaaludes at eight and sexual abuse, can deeply shape later addiction but can also be faced and spoken about openly.
- Using pills and heroin while parenting led to chronic lateness, risky behaviour and intense guilt, which became a major motivator for change.
- Methadone provided temporary stability but came with difficult tapers and stigma, pushing Suki towards meetings and a different kind of recovery.
- Honest conversations with family, especially admitting heroin use to her mum, were key steps in becoming accountable and starting to rebuild life.
- During covid isolation, reconnecting with recovery content and community helped counter suicidal thinking and cravings without picking up drugs.
“I saw in myself what my dad was like to me… I still was absent. I wasn’t available to my kids in the way they needed me to be.”
What emotional and inspiring tales of recovery are out there? This greatest-hits episode from Dopey puts one of them front and centre, as Suki Jones shares a life story that swings from darkly funny to absolutely harrowing.
You’ll hear Dave set the scene with his trademark mix of recovery chat and ridiculous everyday details – think overcooked broccoli, burnt cauliflower and a noisy New York radiator – before dropping into a voicemail from Snake in the UK, who gleefully describes 2CB as a “warm, lovely, furry, comfy blanket” and talks about stacking drugs at festivals and bars. It’s classic Dopey: drugs, laughter, and an underlying awareness of how dangerous it all really is.
The heart of the episode is Suki. An author and long-time member of the Dopey community, she talks about her memoir *See Swallow Me* and walks through a childhood shaped by an alcoholic, volatile father, a terrifying gorilla costume, and being given quaaludes at eight years old. She explains how ear surgery, custody battles and an attempted hit on her mum spiralled into years of trauma, including sexual abuse by her grandfather and early exposure to pharmaceuticals.
From vicodin at twelve and cocaine at thirteen to the Bay Area party scene, tower records, modelling, heroin, methadone and finally recovery, her story stays grounded in facts and feelings rather than drama. She’s honest about being a struggling mum, about suicidal depression during covid, and about how meetings and the Dopey podcast helped her hold her sobriety together when isolation hit hard.
If you’re juggling trauma, parenting, and addiction – or you just want to hear a brutally honest story told with dark humour and zero sugar-coating – this episode offers raw experience and real connection. What parts of Suki’s journey feel uncomfortably familiar, and what might they nudge you to change today?
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