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
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.
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.
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
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
SBS Dateline travels to Thailand to examine a changing war on drugs as the country confronts widespread yaba use, methamphetamine trafficking, prison overcrowding, and decades of punitive drug policies. Filmed during Thailand's historic move to decriminalize cannabis, the investigation follows anti-trafficking units, social workers, formerly incarcerated people, and communities affected by drug use. It also travels to the Golden Triangle, where instability in neighbouring Myanmar and the growth of synthetic drug production have transformed regional trafficking and contributed to an enormous supply of cheap methamphetamine flowing into Thailand.
Australians are among the world's biggest consumers of ecstasy, but where does MDMA actually come from? This investigation follows the drug from clandestine laboratories and chemical suppliers to international trafficking networks and the people who consume it. Travelling from Australia to the Netherlands, reporters examine MDMA production, precursor chemicals, the dark web, and the criminal networks supplying the global market. The investigation also explores Dutch drug policy and harm reduction, revealing a very different approach to drug education while examining the risks surrounding one of the world's most popular party drugs.
This FRONTLINE documentary examines the rise of the methamphetamine epidemic in the United States, tracing how the drug spread from localized production to a nationwide crisis affecting individuals, families, and communities. It explores the role of precursor chemicals such as ephedrine and pseudoephedrine, the evolution of meth production and trafficking, and the challenges of regulating legitimate medications used to manufacture the drug. Through interviews with researchers, law enforcement, healthcare professionals, and people affected by addiction, the film investigates the devastating impact of methamphetamine and the difficulties of containing its spread.
This episode of VICE: High Society examines why ecstasy has become increasingly dangerous in the United Kingdom, where stronger pills, higher MDMA concentrations, and unpredictable adulterants have contributed to a rise in drug-related harm. Speaking with researchers, harm reduction advocates, and drug checking services, the documentary explores how changes in the illicit drug market have increased the risks associated with ecstasy use. It also highlights practical harm reduction strategies, including drug testing and dose awareness, that can help reduce the likelihood of overdose and other serious health consequences.
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
