Infinite Loops · Jim O'Shaughnessy

Jonathan Tepper - Growing Up in the Heroin Capital of Europe (Ep. 303)

February 26, 2026·1 hr 12 min·6 clips

In 1985, seven-year-old Jonathan Tepper moved to Madrid's San Blas, the heroin capital of Europe, where his parents handed out pamphlets to addicts.

San Blas is the first image. Tepper describes his parents as Christian missionaries who moved the family to Madrid after years in Mexico and missionary life. He was seven. His father planned to work with university students as a student chaplain, but cheap rent put the family in San Blas, beside a heroin crisis that quickly came through the front door. Tepper says his parents brought addicted young men and women home, and they became like older brothers and sisters. The host calls the book cinematic and admits his bias because he is publishing it, but Shooting Up mostly lands as lived memory, the kind of book he has clearly sat with more than once. The conversation then turns to Timothy. Tepper explains the four brothers: David was older, Peter was close enough to feel almost paired with him, and Timothy was five years younger. The boys were unusually close. They wandered the neighborhood, played football, walked to school, and kept a normal family rhythm while living next to damage most children would only hear about later. Timothy shared his room. Tepper remembers the bunk bed, the walk to school, and the way he tried to pass along what his father had explained after listening to the news. Those breakfasts stick. His father listened, explained what was happening, and gave Tepper material he would try to translate for his younger brother. Even Newton's laws come up. A friend of Timothy's later remembered Tepper teaching them, a detail that feels tender because it is so exact. The host gives the story room. He lets the family map, the missionary setting, and the book's emotional turn settle before coming back to the release. The close is practical: Shooting Up is available in the United States, the UK, and digitally through Kindle or iBooks.

As heard by us

A memoir of faith, family, and addiction set against a childhood in Madrid's hardest-hit neighborhood.

Jonathan Tepper's story starts in San Blas, Madrid, where a Christian missionary family settled because the rent was cheap and the neighborhood had the highest rate of heroin use in Europe.

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Why you'd press play

A childhood in San Blas, Madrid, where a missionary family lived alongside heroin use and a very close brotherhood.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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