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.
Thailand's 2003 war on drugs unleashed a violent crackdown on suspected drug users and dealers as authorities faced intense pressure to meet government targets. This investigation follows police, local officials, journalists, and community members as blacklists, arrests, and killings spread across the country. While the government blamed much of the violence on drug traffickers silencing informants, critics raised concerns about extrajudicial killings and innocent people being caught in the campaign. The film examines the fear, stigma, and human cost of an enforcement strategy intended to suppress Thailand's growing yaba crisis.
TOPICS: Crime, Drug Trafficking, Law Enforcement, Methamphetamine, Stigma, Stimulants, Thailand, Yaba
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
Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection track major drug smuggling operations entering the United States in this episode of To Catch a Smuggler. Investigators follow methamphetamine shipments through Atlanta and uncover 560 kilograms of liquid meth concealed inside paint buckets, while officers intercept large quantities of MDMA hidden in international parcels. Along the way, agents explain how trafficking organizations move drugs across borders, recruit lower-level couriers, conceal narcotics in everyday shipments, and build investigations designed to identify higher-ranking members of criminal networks.
TOPICS: Crime, Drug Trafficking, Ecstasy / MDMA, Law Enforcement, Methamphetamine, Stimulants, USA
VICE travels to Bogotá, Colombia, to investigate scopolamine, a drug notorious for its association with robberies, assaults, and stories of victims losing control of their actions. Through encounters with victims, dealers, and local experts, the investigation examines the effects and criminal use of scopolamine, its origins in poisonous plants, and its legitimate medical applications. It also explores the disturbing stories that have earned it the nickname "The Devil's Breath," while revealing how documented cases of drug-facilitated crime have become intertwined with sensationalized claims, mythology, and urban legends surrounding the drug.
This documentary examines the addiction and homelessness crisis in Seattle, where rising rates of substance use, visible homelessness, crime, and public disorder have fueled growing concern throughout the community. Through interviews with people living with addiction, business owners, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and local residents, it explores competing perspectives on what has driven the crisis and how it should be addressed. The film also examines treatment options, public policy, and the challenges of balancing compassion, accountability, and public safety.
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
