Tag Archives: drugs

The Opioid Crisis Sweeping Africa

As the world has been transfixed by the opioid crisis in North America, another crisis, just as serious, has been unfolding almost unreported across Africa.

The addictive prescription painkiller Tramadol has exploded in popularity, used by everyone from workers trying to cope with long hours and grueling labor, to university students looking to have a good time. It’s even the drug of choice for members of Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram, fueling their violence.

Now, governments are threatening to crack down, using the same War on Drugs methods of repression that have failed everywhere else. And meanwhile, as counterfeit pills flood the continent, new research is questioning whether people are even taking real Tramadol at all.

After Duterte: The Philippines’ Deadly Drug War

As Rodrigo Duterte’s presidency in the Philippines is over, we look at what his deadly drug war actually achieved, and whether the new president Bongbong Marcos – the son of the Philippines’ former dictator – will continue the bloodshed.

Opioid Crisis of the Himalayas

There have been claims of Pakistan pushing drugs into India’s border state of Punjab, as an act of alleged Narco-terrorism for decades. Once Punjab doubled down on drug trafficking in the state, its neighbour Himachal seemed to have become collateral damage.

India’s northernmost state Himachal Pradesh is in the grips of a heroin crisis, with double the number of illegal opioid users per capita as compared to the rest of India. Esha Paul meets drug peddlers, recovering addicts, and the police on Himachal’s borders to see how a rural state known for being a tourist paradise spiralled into an opioid epidemic.

The Breaking Bad Prank That Went Wrong

Inspired by his favorite show, “Breaking Bad” Josh decided to pull a prank that went terribly wrong. What started off as a harmless joke meant for his friends, quickly spread online resulting in unforeseen consequences that Josh could never have imagined.

The Deadliest Cartel in Mexico

The Los Zetas Cartel changed the game in the Mexican War on Drugs. From the mid-2000s, they introduced an unprecedented level of violence – paramilitary-style executions, beheadings, bodies hung from bridges.

But this was not simply psychopathic violence. These were special forces soldiers from the Mexican military – who had received specialized training from the US Army – who had defected, and used their training to become the most feared drugs cartel in Central America.

Rave Culture: The Birth of Dance Music

Rave Culture delves into the explosive rise of the early 1990s UK rave movement, fueled by mass unemployment, a surge in popularity of amphetamines, and a new wave of musicians, producers, and artists. These underground parties, held in abandoned factories and hidden fields, became the heartbeat of a generation.

Through the voices of its most underground pioneers, this documentary uncovers the rise, and global impact of rave culture. Blending social history with first hand testimony and archive, Rave Culture takes viewers on a journey through the evolution of dance music—tracing its roots from Detroit’s sophisticated techno, Chicago’s hedonistic house, and New York’s garage fervor to the birth of acid house in the late ‘80s.

This sonic revolution not only transformed music production but also reshaped nightlife, youth culture, and society itself.

Southern Exposure

Three years in the making, Southern Exposure is the first documentary that lifts the curtain of lies, half-truths and misinformation to reveal the many facets of illegal immigration to the USA.

The result is a hard-hitting investigation that chronicles the back-stories of drug cartels & human trafficking, the consequences of demographic changes, the resurgance of contagious diseases and the rise of racism and it’s corollary; Ethnic Studies programs taught in schools that promote the myth of Aztlan – that the Southern States are part of the Mexican homeland.

Long seen as a taboo subject, Southern Exposure is unflinching in identifying the consequences of illegal immigration, sensitive to those who risk everything to make the crossing and comprehensive in it’s analysis of the effects – both direct and indirect.

Blue Code of Silence

Bob Leuci: American Hero or the Biggest Rat in NYPD History? 

It’s 1970’s New York City, crime and drug trafficking is at an all time high and police corruption is rife. One officer went under-cover within his own department, wore a wire and collected evidence, eventually bringing to trial over 50 of his colleagues in the NYPD. Although hailed as a hero by many, Bob Leuci is also the most hated cop in American history. 

Did he rat on his colleagues to save his own skin, as many claim, was he motivated by the pursuit of justice or was he used as a pawn to scape goat the rank and file, while their superiors – many of whom are still in power – got off the hook? 

After a lifetime in Witness Protection, Bob Leuci – and those that despise him – tell their story. Using past and present testimonies, dramatic archive, stylised recreations and a killer 1970’s soundtrack, Blue Code of Silence will bring this story of corruption and betrayal to life.

Pot Farm

The war on drugs is over. The world is rehashing it’s pot laws. Medical marijuana trials are set to begin in Australia. A controversial new industry is emerging…

Meet Max and James. They’ve decided to become farmers.

Max is a computer genius and James is a hustler, they’re clever city-slickers, but they’re ready for a tree change. They’ve never farmed before, they’ve got masses to learn, and they’re borrowing a whole lot of coin to get this venture started.

They’ve bought a banana plantation in Byron Bay, and they’re gonna turn it into a Pot Farm.

A couple of years ago Max had leukaemia, and during chemotherapy smoked pot to help with his nausea and lack of appetite. He was the only one not throwing up in his ward. He knows it works, so now he and James have bought a banana farm, and are going to grow pot. Legally.

Byron Bay has one of the biggest concentrations of illegal cannabis in Australia. So on the up side there will be a very skilled (and eccentric) advisors available. On top of this, they’ll employ WOOFers (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) from all over the world.

But they’ll also have some pretty unhappy locals if their low-THC marijuana cross-pollinates and ruins the abundant illegal varieties.

They have in hand a coveted license to grow cannabis at less than 1% THC (the stuff that gets you high), with which they are hoping to produce medical oil. It’s well-documented that hemp oil is a wonderful product for patients, as it has such a low THC content, it’s very safe, especially for parents not wanting to get their kids high!

But the laws and bureaucracy are so complex with their new paranoid-level regulations that they are pushing the proverbial uphill for miles, especially when the government decides that hemp oil will not legally be used for medicinal purposes. It looks like all is lost, until they meet Mukti the white witch, who makes vaginal lubricant. With their magic ingredient they can help ladies orgasm. Another noble venture.

This has the potential to turn Max’s wife Kirby around. She’s not so keen on her hubby’s plans to farm marijuana in a mozzie-infested backwater with their baby Archimedes in tow. And Kirby and James aren’t so keen on each other either. But she does like the sound of the lube. And so do thousands of Italian women, it seems, through their new Italian investor.

If their incredibly ambitious plans fall in a heap, they will have borrowed to the hilt and sunk two million dollars into their venture for nothing.

3MMC: Europe’s Explosive New Party Drug

Europe is undergoing a synthetic boom, with hundreds of stimulants springing up across the continent. None though are creating quite as much buzz as 3-MMC. Piggybacking into the party scene off its predecessor Mephedrone, 3-MMC (3-methylmethcathinone) offers a cleaner, cheaper, and potentially more addictive high with virtually no comedown. Many describe it feeling like a mixture of cocaine and molly—no wonder partiers can’t wait to get their hands on it. But, they’re not the only ones…

Since its ban in 2022, 3-MMC has been illicitly trafficked back into Europe by mafia groups in the Netherlands. Smuggling shipments of drugs and precursor chemicals into Rotterdam and neighboring Antwerp, underground mafias are on the verge of turning the Netherlands into a narco-state.

Zach Shucklin heads to Berlin and Amsterdam to learn about 3-MMC’s unique properties, its role in the party scene, and the potential ramifications for its growing popularity.