Original title
Drugs, Inc.
Released
7/11/2010
Origin country
US
Genre
Crime, Documentary
Production companies
National Geographic, Wall to Wall
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
7
Number of episodes
77
Drugs: A multi-billion-dollar industry that fuels crime and violence like no other substance on the planet. Turning cartel leaders into billionaires, the illegal drug industry also provides vital income to hundreds of thousands of poor workers across the globe. While some users sacrifice their lives to an addiction they can't escape, others find drugs to be their only saving grace from physical or emotional pain almost impossible to overcome. Where should the lines be drawn in this lucrative industry?
A look at how drug enforcement agencies utilize confidential informants and undercover agents to take down illegal drug operations.
The drug game is filled with those fighting for good and bad. Each side needs weapons to fight for their cause. These are the men and women who profit from the sale and use of the arms sold under the table.
From big-time distributors to small-time dealers, cartels play a significant role in the drug game. Some reap the financial rewards within cartel rules, while others work hard for scraps. Either way, life under the thumb of the cartels is dangerous.
From the Silicon Valley to international cities across the globe, dealers balance the need to hold enough merchandise to make a profit with keeping the law at bay. But with the overwhelming demand for drugs, it’s not just the cops chasing down dealers - it’s the users too. Chasing the High sheds light on this perfect storm of supply and demand at the heart of a business we call Drugs, Inc.
The drugs that make it from international and rural areas to the hardened city streets have to pass through a plethora of gambits and decoys to be profitable. Cartel Games gives first hand accounts of the strategy behind the moves made, from pawns to kingpins, in the drug battle we call Drugs, Inc.
Exploring the connection between drugs and the oldest profession in the world.
Cocaine is claiming thousands of lives in the U.S. each year.
Meth claims thousands of lives each year in the U.S. Included: Why it's so deadly and addictive.
Heroin is deadly addictive, but new drugs like krokodil and fentanyl may be even worse.
The supply chain of cocaine stretches around our world, bringing vast wealth to a few ... and misery to millions. Follow its trail through the eyes of peasant farmers producing cocaine paste, a trafficker tied to Mexican cartels and a 28-year-old crack dealer in Miami's poorest neighborhood. And literally see the true nature of cocaine addiction via revolutionary brain photography in a leading lab in Brookhaven, N.Y.
Some call methamphetamine the "Devil's Drug." Often made in less than an hour from a common cold remedy, this powerful stimulant is sweeping across the U.S. and Asia. Follow a raid on a suspected meth lab, stake out a neighborhood pharmacy where addicts attempt to accumulate cold and flu pills, and meet a neuroscientist urgently searching for a cure for addiction. See the dangers of meth and the unexpected physical damages caused by the drug.
Heroin can be life threatening, claiming the lives of numerous victims. Follow this opium derivative as it begins in a remote Afghan heroin lab that processes the raw materials and then on to Chicago, where a dealer demonstrates its final preparation for street sale. Gain insight into its insidious powers from users, and witness a police raid on a heroin distribution network in New Jersey. Plus, go inside one radical attempt to combat heroin's social costs by supplying it free to addicts.
Cannabis is the most widely used illicit drug on the planet. To many, it's an evil weed, but to some, it's a sacred herb, even a lifesaver. For decades the global supply was controlled by criminals, but now a quasi-legal industry worth billions of dollars is booming. Visit growers who are leading a horticultural revolution, hear from users consuming for medicinal purposes, go inside the "Green Rush" of medical marijuana in cities across the U.S. and the violent marijuana cartels in Mexico.
Inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors, and cops who make up the multi-billion-dollar industry.
A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains.
Known by users as the ultimate “love drug,” ecstasy’s euphoric high comes with major lows: Ravers have died from it and organized crime gangs will kill for it.
Deep in the Amazon, Rob—a former Wall Street broker turned healer—has created a free clinic of sorts, administering the highly potent narcotic ayahuasca to trauma patients.
Ketamine—chemically, a compound called ketamine hydrochloride—is a drug that was developed in the 1960s to sedate animals and humans for surgery, though it eventually was replaced by medications that worked faster with less risk. Beginning in the 1990s, initially to the puzzlement of police, burglars began breaking into veterinary clinics and stealing ketamine. They soon learned that recreational drug users had discovered ketamine and were turning it into the new hallucinogenic party drug. In its standard powdered form, ketamine looked like cocaine, and could be snorted in the same way. But it also could be easily modified for injecting, smoking or even mixing into drinks.
Known as Hillbilly Heroin, Opiate pain pills can be found in every town and city across the United States. From the poorest trailer home to the most expensive mansion, they are tearing apart the fabric of American society.
For a few dollars, users can access dozens of compounds that mimic cocaine, ecstasy or marijuana. Sold as “Bath Salts” or “Spice,” these drugs are entirely legal.
Auto crime is the tip of a sinister global iceberg where a car stolen in LA could end up on the Russian black market or a truck taken in Laredo, Texas could become a heavily armored 'narco tank' used in Mexican Cartel gun battles.
Balancing heartbreaking user interviews, unflinching footage of addicts "shooting up," and incredible access to the armed drug dealers and gang members who supply them, Drugs Inc. also joins the front lines with the local and federal law enforcement agencies charged with combating the country's drug problem.
The gambling mecca Sin City plays host to 40 million tourists a year. In storm drains beneath the Las Vegas strip, homeless addicts get high on crack in underground shanties, while in half-built suburbs, police battle marijuana gangs for control of the city's slump-hit homes.
Alaska has a dark secret : it has one of the biggest drug problems in America. We'll get a firsthand look at the effects of heroin and the withdrawal symptoms involved in using the drug.
In Hawaii, which has one of the highest rates of crystal meth users in the nation, National Geographic Channel cameras follow along on a raid to a drug trafficker's house to discover a woman who continues to deal crystal meth while her husband is in jail.
New York City is in the grip of a heroin epidemic, as a new generation of middle-class suburbanite dealers hooked on prescription pills switch to heroin, and venture down the Long Island Expressway Â- dubbed the Heroin Highway into urban Brooklyn and Queens to get their fix.
The devastating consequences of Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana resulted in a wave of small-scale drug dealers taking over the streets of New Orleans. As a means of coping with depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatized locals have turned to cocaine.
Mexican and Canadian drug gangs compete for customers in the isolated terrain in Montana as officers patrol the vast region hoping to stem the tide.
Heroin, cocaine and prescription pills in plentiful supply makes Los Angeles one of the biggest drug distribution hubs in the U.S.
The local drug scene casts a dark shadow on the sunny lifestyle of Puerto Rico, a place where addicts roam the streets in search of their next fix. For Dr. Panelli, treating abusers for jungle rot,Â"a ghastly condition that comes with using injected drugs, can be an overwhelming task.
The most dangerous city in the USA, Detroit, is a perfect mark for today's growing drug industry. Dealers are learning cater to inner city clientele by selling smaller amounts of hard drugs like heroin and cocaine for single-digit prices.
Cocaine and marijuana drug fueled 24-hour lifestyle for Londoners.
Returning for a fourth season, National Geographic Channel's series Drugs Inc. opens viewers eyes with a 360° approach to the drug trade. With intimate firsthand, street-level testimonies from those at the front lines and back alleys of the drug trade — traffickers, dealers, users, federal agents and cops — the investigative series examines the $350 billion-a-year industry from all angles.
San Francisco, Calif. the epicenter of the 1960s' psychedelic revolution is notorious for drugs. But in the new millennium, the city, especially the gay community, is struggling to recover from a meth epidemic. The enabler of this situation is the Asian cartel, which has been poisoning San Francisco with high quality meth for almost 25 years but the Mexican cartels are intent on taking over. Nat Geo goes inside one of the worst drug ghettos in America the heart of the drug trade.
Kingston is in the hands of highly organized and warring drug gangs. They manage drug trafficking and distribution at all levels. With the patronage of politicians, they fight hard to protect their turf in a city where poverty and guns drive the drug trade.
Chicago, the biggest open-air crack and heroin market in America is at saturation point. The result: record levels of overdoses and homicides, as gangs fight over drug turf.
Houston's drug hub is the 'Bloody Nickel' - the Fifth Ward. Five square miles of 24/7 drug and party action. Gangs work across the ethnic divide to keep the drugs flowing; while cops and Cartels vie with each other for control.
Denver - the mile high city - has just legalized recreational use of Marijuana. The city's gang-banger dealers have battled falling profits since medical Marijuana became law, and forced them to push new products. This latest move is last straw.
Miami - once America's cocaine capital; but no more. The War on Drugs has hit home. Today dealers and users play cat and mouse with the cops and live in dread of the Feds. And a new look drug scene has gone underground.
In Kensington north Philadelphia, heroin, crack cocaine and PCP are dealt from a hundred different corners. Kensington is a giant drug drive thru. But for the addicts and dealers it's a deadly trap that threatens to drive them literally insane.
Since the days of Kurt Cobain and grunge music, Seattle has been nicknamed Junkietown. The city's liberal laws and high demand for drugs is attracting gangsters and dealers looking to get rich. From the competitive crack business in Belltown to fashionable Molly users on the electronic dance music scene, National Geographic explores the highs and lows of Seattle's drug business.
Phoenix, Ariz., is the wholesale drug capital of America, under the control of one of Mexico's most powerful and ruthless drug organizations -Â- the Sinaloa Cartel. Almost 200 miles north of the Mexican border, the city has become the major stopping off point for the large-scale distribution and transshipment of marijuana, heroin and methamphetamine up from Mexico and out to the rest of the country.
Music and drugs go hand in hand in Nashville. For musicians who don't make it, drugs are the easiest way to make a living. National Geographic talks to a user and freelance cook who makes methamphetamine at home to cover his costs and get high. Then, learn how the 19th Judicial District Drug Task Force is faced with cleaning up after meth cooks' Â- operations that are both extremely dangerous and prohibitively expensive.
See the underground world of drugs through the eyes of its makers. A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains. Check out growers in Holland who are leading a horticultural revolution in high-grade cannabis. Follow a batch of raw opium from an Afghan poppy field to an Iranian heroin lab. Follow the supply chain of cocaine through the eyes of Colombian peasant farmers producing the drug in a paste.
The sale of drugs accounts for billions of dollars in illegal commerce across the globe, bringing untold wealth to a select few. But these men and women who live lavish lifestyles off the sale of drugs rarely associate themselves with the ugly underbelly where their products hit the streets with users. These stories show that wherever people use be it an island paradise or a cold city street they can get lost in the shuffle. This episode will go deep into the stories of the users.
Every pill popped, pipe smoked and shot injected comes with a price tag. Some dealers focus their efforts on high society users paying top dollar for the best quality stuff, while others focus on quantity selling users just enough to scratch the itch and come back for more. Either way, the smuggling and selling of drugs brings in big money. And some of the people handling it are the best in the business.
Drugs, Inc. goes deep into the multi-billion-dollar industry that fuels crime and violence like no other substance for an intimate, firsthand view from those at the front lines and back alleys of the drug trade - traffickers, dealers, users, and cops.
A look at the fight against the country's most dangerous dealers and the biggest producers. From smuggling at JFK International Airport to cartel kingpins in Arizona, U.S law enforcement is fighting the global trade
Behind the idyllic veneer of being one of the safest cities in the U.S, Salt Lake City is suffering from a massive drug epidemic. National Geographic pulls back the curtain and reveals the secret world of drug addiction in the Mormon community, the arrival of the cartels, and the dangers to the officers trying to control it.
After being rocked by a corruption scandal and a budget deficit in the range of 58 million dollars, the city's police department's staffing and morale are in bad shape. National Geographic follows an elite team of detectives who are trying to establish some control over the free for all drug market. Using their access to the dealers, users, and gang members at the heart of the problem NGC gives us a inside look at the drug infested city.
Washington, D.C., was once Crack City and the murder capital of the U.S. But an increased police presence following Sept. 11 made drugs scarce. In the neighborhoods of southeast D.C., one drug remained PCP. And it's causing havoc. NGC goes inside the chaotic world of PCP where users think they're invincible and can be driven to insane acts of depravity. Visit the emergency room unit where doctors treat up to 80 psychotic patients high on PCP each month.
Portland's progressive attitudes have made it a mecca for America's homeless and they're helping fund the deadliest drug market in the Pacific Northwest. Here, pushers prey on the young, handing them free sample bags of narcotics to turn them into new customers. With thousands of Portland's youths succumbing to heroin's powerful allure, local police have made it their No. 1 priority to disrupt the flow into the city by smashing the local distribution networks.
Molly, a powdered form of the drug MDMA, is exploding in popularity across the United States. Formerly marketed in pill form as Ecstasy, Molly is a total rebrand. Marketed as purer, cleaner and without the additives, this powder has become the most fashionable new drug for young people. But as the consumer demand for Molly has exploded, the production of pure MDMA has struggled to keep up with supply. As a result new, dangerous chemicals are finding their way into the market.
The southwest border of the U.S. is the main gateway for illegal drugs, and Dallas, Texas, is often the first port of call for the Mexican cartel drug trade. In this episode, witness how the Mexican cartels have tainted Dallas by turning it into their command and control center for the trade of their narcotics. Buyers desperate to get a hold of the cartel's high-quality product flock to Dallas from all over the country, giving local dealers the chance to make big money
Baltimore, a once prosperous city, lost many of its jobs along with its steel mills. In return, the city developed one of the biggest heroin problems in the country. For many of those that remain amid the poverty and abandoned homes, the Heroin Hustle is the way of life. One strip of Pennsylvania Avenue alone is estimated to take in $10 million a year from heroin sales. With the business booming, the heroin market is expanding outward to the suburbs, and the authorities are struggling to cope.
Dominican drug networks tied directly to the Mexican cartel are distributing countless amounts of narcotics in the historic city of Boston, fueling a widespread epidemic that law enforcement and emergency services can hardly contain. The Dominican drug organizations are increasingly using Puerto Rican dealers as their middlemen to flood the city with heroin. The epidemic touches all communities, making Boston one of the leading cities for heroin distribution.
A journey through the daily lives of drug crews in New York, Atlanta and Portland.
Drugs, Inc. is back. And season 6 features episodes with an all new approach. Every city has a drug scene. But when big events happen, drug dealers take bigger risks for bigger returns.
Heroin users in America began showing symptoms associated with Krokodil, a home-cooked opiate, including raw lesions, decaying skin and grotesque sores.
With more than 4 million regular users in the United States alone, cocaine has become worth more than gold. Join Nat Geo Channel as we go inside one of the largest markets in the country, Los Angeles, Calif.
The most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, the Sinaloa Cartel, has found a new way to exploit American drug demand with Mexican super meth, a stronger and more addictive form of crystal meth.
The rapidly growing appetite for California Sour Diesel, a potent strain of marijuana said to induce an instant high, is helping fuel a violent drug underworld that stretches from coast to coast.
Ecstasy rebranded as pure MDMA is exploding in popularity while new-wave dealers try to distribute a molly alternative.
A look at the gangs that supply party goers with illegal drugs during New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City.
In Columbus, Ohio, the purity of heroin is on the rise. It’s more deadly than ever before and local paramedics are fighting to save the lives of struggling addicts.
As tourists flood New Orleans, so do drug dealers eager to make a profit; in a fierce competition one dealer becomes a target when he sells fake drugs.
Its spring break in Florida and the wave of students means the demand for drugs is flooding the streets. In a month-long party, springbreakers’ drug of choice is “molly.” For local dealers, spring break is the busiest time of year.
Chicago, Illinois, is the drug hub of the Midwest and one of the most dangerous large cities in the United States. The Fourth of July is one of the bloodiest nights of the year and a time when the demand for drugs booms.
The culture of cocaine is deeply entrenched on Wall Street and some will pay more than its worth for the purest quality available. It’s a buyer’s market and dealers must compete to deliver first and close the sale, while keeping up with the changing Wall Street appetite. A new generation of brokers and traders are turning to a drug that keeps them performing at work. And police are coming down on a drug that they regard as Wall Street’s dirty little secret — which is quickly turning into an epidemic.
The relationship between the million-dollar hip-hop industry and the billion-dollar drug industry; rappers in Calif. use drug money to pay for their studio time.
Delving into the Los Angeles porn industry, where a reputation for illegal drugs is under more scrutiny than ever after a number of HIV scares are changing the toleration of narcotics on set.
Thousands of students head to Cancun, Mexico for Spring Break and some have only one thing on there mind: to get wasted.
Enterprising inmates in two jails with tough drug policies, one in Calif. and the other in N.J., still find ways to get drugs inside.
As trafficking drugs through the Caribbean increases in preference to the land route across the Mexican border, gangs in the Dominican Republic have become a key players in the transhipment of cocaine.
Follow Detroit’s dealers, cops and feds as they take on the city’s wild rave scene in the frantic 48 hours leading up to Halloween. Anarchy rules the Motor City: Around the notorious 8 Mile Road, street slingers stock up and look for new opportunities downtown. In the suburbs, middle-class dealers bring party drugs to raves.
When Pittsburgh police crack down on heroin, they inadvertently open the door for wannabe dealers that see a chance to muscle their way into the market with a killer brand.
The side effects of drug use can be disastrous, but the people living in the world of the living dead fight an epic battle.
The drug of choice in Silicon Valley is cocaine, but a cop crackdown is pushing dealers and their programmer clients to meth.
From the DEA and dealers to users and doctors, Grim Reaper explores the deadliest drugs across the globe.
Heroin on Staten Island is reaching epidemic proportions as dealers from New Jersey take advantage of a crackdown on prescription pills that's leaving teenagers desperate for a soporific high.
Follow the rise in demand for narcotics during Mardi Gras, Spring Break, Independence Day, and New Years Eve, through the eyes of dealers, law enforcement and users
Cocaine is Europe-bound and which means a white-knuckle ride along the Amazon, to the docks of Ghana and Nigeria and all the way to Amsterdam.
Arresting drug dealers is just the beginning for some in the drug game, as some inmates continue to do business behind bars.
Outlaw bikers fight cops and Chinese Triads to keep control of the crystal meth trade.
Meet the network of traffickers, runners and smugglers delivering meth to the masses in Austin. At the Tex-Mex border, officials do everything they can to cut off supply.
Marijuana is widespread amongst the student population in Boston and, with National Weed day on the horizon, dealers and students are gearing up.
Thai police battle an addiction epidemic as popularity of meth pill Yaba spins out of control. Dealers continue to find ways to dodge the authorities and keep profits rolling in.
In Vancouver, a suburban gang war and heavy police presence drives some dealers and their customers to move downtown. But the cops are in hot pursuit.
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