Berlin's internationally renowned nightlife provides the backdrop for an investigation into recreational drug use, club culture, and the risks facing partygoers. Beginning with the overdose death of a young American woman at Berghain, the film examines MDMA and other drugs commonly associated with the city's nightlife while exploring production, online drug markets, and access to illegal substances. Through clubgoers, medical professionals, researchers, law enforcement, and people working within Berlin's nightlife, it raises questions about drug safety, prevention, and responsibility within the city's influential club scene.
TOPICS: Ecstasy / MDMA, Empathogens, Germany, Nightlife, Stimulants
Young people's changing attitudes toward cannabis are creating new challenges for prevention and public health in Singapore. This investigation examines cannabis use, addiction risk, social media, drug trafficking, and the influence of changing policies in nearby Thailand. Through healthcare professionals, researchers, law enforcement, counsellors, community organizations, and people with lived experience, the episode explores Singapore's strict approach to drugs alongside prevention, recovery, and youth outreach efforts. It also examines concerns surrounding cannabis commercialization and how shifting perceptions of the drug may influence younger generations.
Across Colombia, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the United States, cocaine and synthetic opioids are reshaping communities in very different ways. This investigation follows coca production, international trafficking, youth recruitment, gang violence, drug markets, fentanyl, and xylazine while examining how organized crime and addiction intersect. Through law enforcement, community organizations, people with lived experience, and public health workers, the episode connects the global cocaine trade with European gang networks and the overdose crisis in North America, as well as prevention, treatment, and harm-reduction efforts.
Across Pakistan, Thailand, Canada, and Australia, methamphetamine production, trafficking, addiction, and recovery take very different forms. This investigation follows police raids, rehabilitation programs, border patrols, drug-destruction operations, clandestine laboratories, and wastewater monitoring while tracing the networks that move synthetic drugs across borders. It also examines the role of Myanmar's expanding meth trade, the challenges facing people seeking treatment, and the impact of high-potency drugs on communities. Through law enforcement, experts, treatment workers, and people affected by addiction, the episode reveals the global reach of synthetic drugs.
Nigeria faces significant challenges related to substance use, with poverty, unemployment, mental health, and limited access to support contributing to drug-related harm across the country. Through firsthand accounts and perspectives from psychiatrists, sociologists, traditional leaders, public health experts, and officials with the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, this documentary examines the causes and consequences of drug use in Nigeria. It also explores prevention, treatment, community initiatives, and the need for coordinated efforts to address addiction and support individuals, families, and communities affected by substance use.
TOPICS: Nigeria, Poverty, Prevention & Treatment, Public Health, Socioeconomics
This documentary examines Afghanistan's addiction crisis and the challenges people seeking recovery face inside a former U.S. military base that was converted into a large drug rehabilitation centre in Kabul. Independent reporter Akshay documents severe shortages of medication, staff, and resources while speaking with patients and those working to support them. The film also follows Babrak, a former mujahideen fighter and recovering addict, while exploring how decades of war, poverty, unemployment, and drug availability have shaped substance use and treatment in Afghanistan.
TOPICS: Afghanistan, Heroin, Homelessness, Opioids, Poverty, Prevention & Treatment, Public Health
After losing their sons to drug overdoses, two Orange County mothers set out to educate young people about prescription drugs, addiction, and overdose. Through firsthand accounts from grieving parents, young people affected by addiction, and addiction professionals, this documentary explores how experimentation can develop into devastating substance use problems. Created as a prevention tool for young audiences and families, it challenges assumptions about who can develop an addiction while emphasizing the consequences of drug use, the warning signs families should recognize, and the importance of honest conversations.
As prescription drug misuse grew across Tennessee, communities began confronting doctor shopping, medication diversion, overdose, and increasing access to controlled substances. This documentary examines an early response to what would later become a nationwide opioid crisis, bringing together perspectives from law enforcement, healthcare professionals, pharmacists, coalition leaders, and people directly affected. It explores prescription monitoring, youth prevention, community partnerships, and the challenges of distinguishing legitimate pain treatment from problematic drug use while capturing the warning signs of a rapidly developing public health crisis.
Prescription opioid dependence can affect people of all ages and backgrounds, including those who first encounter opioids through legitimate pain treatment. Focusing on communities in Ontario, this documentary combines personal experiences with perspectives from healthcare professionals, treatment providers, and community leaders. It examines opioid withdrawal, stigma, harm reduction, methadone treatment, counselling, and other approaches to recovery while exploring the challenges of balancing pain management with the risks of prescription opioids and responding to addiction as a public health issue.
Germany has become an important destination in Europe's growing cocaine market, with international trafficking networks using ports and emerging smuggling routes to move enormous quantities of the drug across borders. From a record-breaking 16-ton seizure at the Port of Hamburg to new routes through Kenya, this documentary follows cocaine's journey from South America to dealers and consumers in Europe. Through law enforcement, experts, and personal stories, it explores the profits, violence, enforcement challenges, and economic conditions driving an increasingly globalized cocaine trade.
