Series synopsis
Drugs, Inc. is an American documentary crime television series that premiered on National Geographic on July 11, 2010. It ended on December 30, 2015.
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 ind ...
Premise
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?
Episodes
This series spans 8 seasons with 96 episodes.
| Season | Episodes | First aired | Last aired |
|---|---|---|---|
| Season 0 | 19 | November 24, 2013 | May 15, 2019 |
| Season 1 | 4 | July 11, 2010 | July 12, 2010 |
| Season 2 | 8 | January 1, 2012 | February 19, 2012 |
| Season 3 | 10 | October 21, 2012 | January 6, 2013 |
| Season 4 | 13 | August 11, 2013 | November 24, 2013 |
| Season 5 | 12 | June 29, 2014 | September 3, 2014 |
| Season 6 | 10 | November 12, 2014 | January 28, 2015 |
| Season 7 | 20 | September 16, 2015 | December 30, 2015 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Drug Makers | November 24, 2013 |
| 2 | Going to Extremes | November 24, 2013 |
| 3 | Best in the Business | November 24, 2013 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Cocaine 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. |
July 11, 2010 |
| 2 |
Meth 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. |
July 11, 2010 |
| 3 |
Heroin 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. |
July 12, 2010 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Crack Inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors, and cops who make up the multi-billion-dollar industry. |
January 1, 2012 |
| 2 |
Hash A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains. |
January 1, 2012 |
| 3 |
Ecstasy 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. |
January 8, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
High Stakes Vegas 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. |
October 21, 2012 |
| 2 |
Alaska Heroin Rush 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. |
October 28, 2012 |
| 3 |
Hawaiian Ice 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. |
November 11, 2012 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
San Francisco Meth Zombies 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. |
August 11, 2013 |
| 2 |
Jamaican Gangs, Guns and Ganja 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. |
August 18, 2013 |
| 3 |
Windy City High 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. |
August 25, 2013 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Breakdown 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 |
June 29, 2014 |
| 2 |
Salt Lake Sinners 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. |
July 2, 2014 |
| 3 |
Cokeland 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. |
July 9, 2014 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
Flesh-Eating Krokodil Heroin users in America began showing symptoms associated with Krokodil, a home-cooked opiate, including raw lesions, decaying skin and grotesque sores. |
November 12, 2014 |
| 2 |
Cocaine White Gold 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. |
November 19, 2014 |
| 3 |
Super Meth 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. |
November 26, 2014 |
| Episode | Title | Air date |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
The Real Wolves of Wall Street 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. |
September 16, 2015 |
| 2 |
Hip Hop High 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. |
September 23, 2015 |
| 3 |
X-Rated High 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. |
September 30, 2015 |
Production
Release
| Original network/platform | National Geographic |
|---|---|
| First aired | July 11, 2010 |
| Last aired | December 30, 2015 |
| Runtime | 43 minutes |
| Status | ended |
| Schedule | Wednesday at 21:00:00 |