Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Snapshot · Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard

Lukas Gage

Explore episode Jul 6, 2026
Health & Fitness
8 classmates overdosed by graduation

Lukas Gage · Jul 6, 2026

By the time Gage graduated high school in San Diego, approximately eight people in his class had overdosed on drugs, which he attributed to proximity to Mexico.

Where this was said

Heroin, Tijuana Lunch Runs, and Eight Overdosed Classmates

At 23:05 · chapter starts 22:20

Gage describes a San Diego adolescence defined by easy access to hard drugs. Tijuana was a 20-30 minute drive, and students would park at the McDonald's on the US side, walk across the border, buy drugs, and return in time for afternoon class. A girlfriend showed him the ropes. His brother Corey began using heroin at just 14 years old — a common trajectory in a city where the drug flowed freely. By the time Gage graduated, approximately eight of his classmates had overdosed. He connects this directly to the geographic reality of living on the border, a pattern he describes without sentimentality but with clear weight.

Health & Fitness
San Diego: Heroin, Tijuana Lunch Runs, and Eight Dead Classmates

Lukas Gage · Jul 6, 2026 Health & Fitness

San Diego's proximity to Tijuana made hard drugs a lunch-break errand. By the time Gage graduated, eight classmates had overdosed. His brother started heroin at 14. The city's bro-military culture made asking for help unthinkable.

Health & Fitness
Corey started using heroin at 14

Lukas Gage · Jul 6, 2026

Gage's brother Corey began using heroin at age 14, a pattern common in San Diego given the city's proximity to Mexico.

Society & Culture
The Hate Crime at 18 That Changed Everything

Lukas Gage · Jul 6, 2026 Society & Culture

At 18, Lukas Gage stepped in to defend a gay friend being attacked and got beaten by five men who broke his teeth, nose, and orbitals. The attackers walked free because lawyers argued Gage threw the first punch. His current gleaming smile is entirely veneers.

Society & Culture
Paris Hilton'd: Kidnapped to a Wilderness Camp

Lukas Gage · Jul 6, 2026 Society & Culture

At 13, Lukas Gage spent Father's Day at his dad's house and was taken in the middle of the night by strangers and shipped to a troubled-teen wilderness program. Rather than reform him, it made him worse — more rebellious, more distrustful, and twice the nightmare.

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Pipe broke → hydrogen sulfide studio air

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A broken pipe filled the Bad Friends studio with what the hosts identified as hydrogen sulfide — microscopic fecal aeroparticles — that the crew denied smelling.