Tag Archives: drugs

Britain’s Scariest Debt Collector

Years ago Shaun Smith was an enforcer for one of the biggest crime families in Liverpool and embroiled in a war against a rival drug gang.

Shaun introduced urban terrorism to the British underworld. He sprayed up houses with machine guns, tortured people and used homemade napalm to firebomb his enemies.

Today, after a spell of five years in prison for firearms offenses, he is trying to transfer those skills to the legal economy by working as a debt collector in the northern English satellite town of Warrington.

Krokodil: Russia´s Deadliest Drug

A homemade drug called Krokodil is gaining popularity in Siberia and its effects on users are horrific. Krokodil is Russian for Crocodile, because of the way addicts’ skin begins to get scaly, dry and eventually rot right off their bodies. Even most heroin users are frightened by Krokodil and want nothing to do with this terrifying drug.

The World’s Weirdest Drug Market

New Zealand is a long way from anywhere, and drug cartels have traditionally not bothered sending them much cocaine or heroin. So, Kiwis have had to improvise – and they discovered a love for meth, and random new chemicals no one’s ever heard of.

This was all getting very dangerous, with rising addiction and biker gangs fighting over territory. Then one man – a steam-punk glam-rock musician named Starboy – decided to try and end New Zealand’s drug war once and for all. And he almost managed it!

Tucibi: The Pink Cocaine Wave

From Medellin’s elite clubbers to the cartel queens that run the underworld, all of a sudden everyone in Colombia seems to be snorting pink “cocaine,” also known as “tucibi.” It’s fashionable, it’s six times as expensive as regular “white” cocaine, it has its own genre of music called “Guaracha,” and it’s so popular that it has even spawned a whole new generation of “neo-narcos.” Cartels are expanding production into Europe, so expect to see this “magic pink powder”- if you haven’t already.

Love in the Time of Fentanyl

As overdose deaths in Vancouver, Canada reach an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society opens its doors in the Downtown Eastside, a neighborhood often referred to as “ground zero of the overdose crisis.” A renegade supervised drug consumption site that employs active and former drug users, the crew do whatever it takes to save lives and give hope to a deeply marginalized population while demanding more radical responses to the devastation ravaging their community. LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL reaches beyond the stigma of drug use, revealing the courage and compassion of those on the frontlines of the crisis.

The Reality of Legalizing Cocaine, Heroin, and Ecstasy

The War on Drugs has failed. Okay, but ending it is more complex than just letting people sell heroin to kids in supermarkets.We think about what a legal market might actually look like. We look at different classes of drugs, exploring exactly how legal, regulated markets for heroin, cocaine and MDMA can be structured in order to protect users from harm.

We examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe.
Everyone loses – except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.

Mexico’s Notorious Narco Pilots

Since the 1990’s Mexico’s Narco Pilots have risked life and limb transporting drugs for the Cartels. It’s a risky game but many are attracted to it by the upwards of $12,000 they can earn with every flight. In this documentary, we speak with these daredevils about the risks and rewards for a modern day drug smuggler.

Cartels in West Africa

Over the past decade or so, South American cartels have found a new way to get their product into the vast European marketplace – West Africa.

The region’s porous borders, endemic poverty and weak law enforcement make it an easy target for international organised crime. But now drug use is spilling over into local markets, and the corruption inherent in the War on Drugs has begun to warp entire societies, leading to the emergence of Africa’s first real narco-states.

We examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe. Everyone loses – except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.

Do Psychedelics Help With Depression?

Going on a shroom, DMT or acid trip may not sound like a conventional therapy session, but there’s a psychedelic revolution going on in the world of mental health treatment. Illegal drugs previously associated with hippies and raves are now being used to treat PTSD, depression, anxiety, addiction and obsessive disorders.

This is the story of how incredible new research is bringing the therapeutic benefits of magic mushrooms, LSD, MDMA and DMT to light – and how the War on Drugs has needlessly held this research back for 50 years.

We examine the social implications of prohibition worldwide. Any attempt to shut down the trade in drugs such as heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, ketamine or weed invariably sets off a chain of events that just makes things worse, leaving a trail of death, illness, violence, slavery, addiction, crime and inequality across the globe.
Everyone loses – except, in a weird kind of way, the drugs themselves.

The World’s Scariest Drug

We went to Colombia to check out a strange and powerful drug called Scopolamine, also known as “The Devil’s Breath.” It’s a substance so intense that it renders a person incapable of exercising free will. The first few days in the country were a harrowing montage of freaked-out dealers and unimaginable horror stories about Scopolamine. After meeting only a few people with firsthand experience, the story took a far darker turn than we ever could have imagined.

Chinese Gangs in Mexico: Inside the Fentanyl Trade

We go undercover in Mexico to infiltrate a network of Chinese gangsters laundering drug proceeds for the cartels. This new alliance is making huge amounts of money for triads and cartels, and making the fentanyl crisis harder to stop.

Cartel School: Becoming a Hitman

We travel down to Sinaloa, Mexico – El Chapo’s home turf & the heartland of arguably one of the most powerful cartels in the country, if not the world. There, we follow a pair of local, low-ranking members eager to prove themselves as soldiers and sicarios (hit men) for the Sinaloa cartel.

Though they’re currently stuck making drug runs, tailing military trucks, & overseeing other petty assignments throughout the city of Culiacán, they’ll soon be headed to the mountains of Badiraguato to attend the cartel’s underground training camp, where veterans turn hungry young men into willing & able killers.

With never-before-seen, exclusive access to the intricate inner workings of the cartel’s recruitment and training systems, we’ll get a sense of how Mexico’s most powerful organized crime operations prepare their soldiers to wage war & enforce their dominion over their territory.

We’ll also get inside the heads of the civilians willing to permanently give up everything for a shot at rising through the ranks – ultimately learning both how & why so many young men are sucked into a life of crime & bloodshed