Shooting Coke, Skid Row Heroin, Rehab Gone Wrong and “More Will Be Revealed” | Nick Reiner Part 2 | Dopey Total Replay 45Shooting Coke, Skid Row Heroin, Rehab Gone Wrong and “More Will Be Revealed” | Nick Reiner Part 2 | Dopey Total Replay 45
Dopey: On the Dark Comedy of Drug Addiction
Timestamps 00:00 — Opening and a message for anyone struggling 01:12 — Do your steps and stop making everybody chase you 01:38 — DopeyCon tickets and the upcoming Patreon Zoom 02:08 — Revisiting Nick Reiner in light of later events 03:15 — Remembering Chris and the architecture of Dopey 04:03 — Listener reactions to Part 1 07:16 — Butt stories, writing to Nick and Spotify comments 09:42 — Siri problems and remembering Nick Sheff 11:11 — Dave’s evolving vision for Dopey 12:02 — A listener discovers the early days of the show 14:32 — Nick Reiner Part 2 begins 15:02 — Nick’s first time shooting cocaine 16:53 — Shooting cocaine in a McDonald’s bathroom 18:10 — Dave keeps a drug dealer’s safe in his apartment 19:15 — Cocaine, needles and instant paranoia 21:26 — Chris watches a motel peephole for six hours on meth 22:18 — Meth, heroin and “goofballs” 23:46 — Rich Hollywood kids versus street-level addiction 24:30 — Luxury rehab, Newport Beach and veterinary drugs 26:09 — Nick’s first adolescent treatment experience 28:20 — How rehab introduced Nick to heroin 30:36 — Skid Row and the first heroin run 31:24 — Dave buys heroin using fake movie money 33:01 — Can treatment make a young person’s drug use worse? 35:09 — Permanent Midnight and friendships with drug dealers 36:34 — Using heroin to “burn off” privilege 37:29 — Growing up in the Reiner family 39:50 — Dave remembers his parents visiting him in detox 42:12 — Dave becomes Nick’s camp counselor 44:32 — Wishing Nick could experience freedom in recovery 46:44 — Nick’s Gawker prank targeting Malibu rehabs 49:07 — Opioid medication after surgery in recovery 50:15 — The exploding car on the way to a Phish show 51:25 — A listener’s sexual shame and rehab experience 53:48 — Sexual exploitation by a counselor 56:02 — Drugs, sex, shame and rebuilding healthy relationships 58:17 — Dave, Chris and Nick debate recovery and controlled use 01:00:28 — Nick’s current definition of successful use 01:02:48 — LSD, sobriety and introspective nightmares 01:03:45 — Nick’s longest stretch completely clean 01:04:09 — “More will be revealed” 01:05:11 — Closing song
1:05:14•21 Sept 2026
Dark Laughs, Skid Row Shots and Rehab Backfires with Nick Reiner
Episode Overview
- Rehab can sometimes expose young people to harder drugs rather than protect them, especially when they are not ready to stop.
- Growing up with money or famous parents does not shield anyone from addiction or the shame that comes with it.
- Relationships with dealers and fellow users can feel real and intimate, even though they’re fuelled by drugs.
- Sexual insecurity and body shame can drive people deeper into opioid use, as described in Scott’s rehab counsellor story.
- For some, recovery is framed as a kind of freedom where everyday worries replace the life-or-death chaos of using.
“Everyone that's ever shot coke remembers where they were when they first shot cocaine.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? This replay episode of Dopey drops you right back into the chaos, comedy and heartbreak that defined the show’s early years, featuring part two with guest Nick Reiner. You’ll hear Nick talk bluntly about shooting coke in a McDonald’s bathroom, copping heroin on Skid Row, and how his first trip to rehab didn’t "save" him – it planted the seed for harder drug use.
As he puts it, "Everyone that's ever shot coke remembers where they were when they first shot cocaine." His stories move from halfway houses in Maine to Malibu rehabs and grimy downtown Los Angeles, showing the strange mix of privilege, danger and dark humour that shaped his addiction. Dave and Chris keep the tone loose and funny, but there’s real sadness underneath.
Dave reflects on Chris’s death and Nick’s later legal troubles, calling the episode "a weird space time continuum" where an apparently "normal dude" ends up in a very different place. They also talk about class, shame and family expectations, including Nick’s discomfort with growing up in a famous, successful family and his sense of being "the one that makes everyone unhappy".
A big part of the episode is for people in and around recovery who are tired of neat, inspirational narratives. The hosts read listener emails that are raw and complicated – including Scott’s shocking account of being sexually exploited by a rehab counsellor who crossed every possible boundary, from secret handjobs to smuggling in suboxone and rigs. His line, "We are only as sick as our secrets," lands hard.
If you’re drawn to messy, honest stories about addiction, rehab that goes wrong, and the awkward gap between using and recovery, this one might hit close to home. What parts of your own story would you dare to say out loud?
Do you want to link to this podcast?
Get the buttons here!
More From This Show
The latest episodes from the same podcast.