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.
Rising cocaine production and increasingly pure cocaine are affecting communities thousands of kilometres from where the drug originates. This investigation follows the cocaine trade from Colombia to Canada, documenting law enforcement efforts to intercept international shipments before travelling to Sheshatshiu Innu First Nation in Labrador, where residents are confronting addiction and drug-related deaths. Through interviews with police, community members, people in recovery, and treatment workers, the report connects organized crime and international drug trafficking with the public health consequences experienced by one remote First Nations community.
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.
The Netherlands has become a major hub in Europe's cocaine trade, with criminal networks using ports such as Rotterdam and Antwerp to move enormous quantities of drugs into the continent. This documentary investigates the groups commonly associated with the Mocro Mafia and the violence, corruption, and intimidation surrounding the lucrative cocaine trade. Through investigators, journalists, and law enforcement officials, it examines port security, drug seizures, organized crime, and the Marengo trial involving Ridouan Taghi, revealing how trafficking networks have extended their influence deep into Dutch society.
TOPICS: Cocaine, Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Netherlands
Brady began drinking as a teenager before alcohol became part of a growing cycle of cocaine, prescription pills, benzodiazepines, and eventually heroin addiction. He describes using different substances to control how he felt, the hopelessness and isolation that followed, and serious health consequences that still were not enough to make him stop. After treatment and relapse, Brady began to approach recovery differently. His story explores the progression of addiction and the difficult process of rebuilding a life through treatment, meaningful relationships, community support, and a commitment to making recovery his priority.
From remote coca fields in Peru to the streets of USA, this investigative documentary follows the global cocaine trade at every stage of its journey. Through firsthand reporting and interviews with farmers, traffickers, law enforcement, and people affected by cocaine use, it reveals the complex network that fuels one of the world's most profitable illicit industries. This resource explores the economic, social, and human costs of cocaine production and trafficking while highlighting the challenges of disrupting a market driven by persistent global demand.
TOPICS: Cocaine, Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Peru, Stimulants, USA
