April 24, 2025

Berlin Club Culture – Dancing, Drugs & Death

Berlin is a hot destination for partygoers – it’s the unofficial nightlife capital of the world. But it too frequently ends in tragedy, such as when a young American woman died of an overdose at Berghain. It is Berlin’s most iconic club, allowing countless people, both local and foreign, into its doors. This documentary delves into the current drug culture in Berlin, with a particular focus on the recreational use of ecstasy/MDMA at Berghain. It examines the ease with which these drugs are obtained and explores the effects that clubbing and drug use can have on both individuals and the community.
April 24, 2025

Zombies of Nairobi: Street Youth Addicted to Inhalants

A population of young people in Kenya, known as the “Zombies of Nairobi,” wander the streets in a daze, seemingly half alive due to consuming dangerous inhalants. The campsites where they live are filled with mounds of garbage and create a desolate and grotesque environment. Deprived of even the most basic necessities, such as food, water, and shelter, these children suffer daily. Tragically, the cause of their zombie-like state is due to the glue-sniffing epidemic that has gripped Nairobi’s street youth population. The side effects of inhaling dangerous substances can lead to a loss of concentration, lack of coordination, hallucinations, and even aggression towards others.
April 24, 2025

Overdose Crisis on the US-Canada Border: Steel Town Down

Tens of thousands have died of an opioid overdose across the US and Canada in 2017, with the death count surpassing the peak of the AIDS epidemic. The weight of the crisis in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario falls on a handful of people struggling to keep their fellow community members alive, similar to countless towns in North America. Steel Town Down is an intimate portrait of the only harm reduction worker in town and a family desperate to save their son from becoming another victim of the crisis.
April 24, 2025

Methadone Mile: Inside Boston’s Drug Epidemic

In this story, we’ll peel back the layers, speaking to people from Harvard doctors to people selling crack, and from the addicts fighting for survival to those who have escaped their addiction and now work to help others. Furthermore, we aim to uncover the deeper question of how methadone mile came to be. As we unravel this mystery, we’ll reveal how a single failed infrastructure project may be a key factor behind the hundreds now living in the streets of Boston. This episode is sponsored by Better Help.
April 24, 2025

Flood: The Overdose Epidemic in Canada

This documentary travels across Canada to discuss the magnitude of the opioid crisis / overdose epidemic and the importance of harm reduction initiatives across communities. You’ll learn about what harm reduction entails and why it is essential to combating this crisis because “since 2016, more than 12,800 Canadians lost their lives due to fatal overdoses.”
April 23, 2025

Pieces of a Dream: A Story of Gambling

When Phillip Wong died by suicide, his family thought that silence would end their pain. But his sister, filmmaker Michelle Wong, needed to make sense of her brother’s death. What drove him to end his life at age 36? Weaving together intimate conversations with those closest to Phillip, as well as her own candid reflections, Wong embarks on a personal journey. Gently peeling away layers of silence, she uncovers her brother’s story of gambling addiction and his lonely spiral into desperation, isolation and depression. Filmed against the backdrop of the noisy casinos of Las Vegas and the quiet town of St. Paul, Alberta, the documentary lays bare the grief of family and friends. Sifting through feelings of guilt, sadness and shame, the once-fragmented family begins to discover a new closeness. This heart-wrenching film is a sister’s uncompromising search for the truth and healing–for herself, her family, and others struggling with addiction.
April 23, 2025

Understanding Joy: The Devastation of a Gambling Addiction

Understanding Joy enters the mind of Joy, a 57-year-old woman whose gambling addiction has overcome her sense of morality and driven her to embezzle $700,000 from two employers. As she awaits sentencing for her crime, Joy struggles to explain her disease to her children, to the world, and to herself.
April 23, 2025

Afghanistan: The Billion Dollar Drug War

Drug use in Afghanistan is at an all-time high. With NATO forces withdrawing and local law enforcement authorities having little to no funding, the poppy fields are thriving. In this documentary, 101 East investigates how Afghan authorities are fighting to regulate the return of poppy farming, the ramifications of the global war on drugs, and what the future holds for this vulnerable nation. Fortunately, there is one woman in Kabul who works endlessly to help addicts.
April 23, 2025

Ketamine: Realms and Realities (Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia)

Hamilton Morris meets with Timothy Wyllie, an artist, writer and architect best known for his role in founding a controversial religion called The Process Church, and whose life has been a continuous quest to understand the mysteries of his own consciousness. He then heads to India to see industrial ketamine synthesis, and speak with therapists and luminaries in an attempt to understand the role of dissociative anesthetics in society.