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All Seasons

Season 1

  • S01E01 Cocaine

    • July 11, 2010
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S01E02 Meth

    • July 11, 2010
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S01E03 Heroin

    • July 12, 2010
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S01E04 Marijuana

    • July 12, 2010
    • National Geographic

    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.

Season 2

  • S02E01 Crack

    • January 1, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Inside the world of producers, traffickers, dealers, users, doctors, and cops who make up the multi-billion-dollar industry.

  • S02E02 Hash

    • January 1, 2012
    • National Geographic

    A former British gangster serves as guide into this illicit underworld, visiting a secret hash-making location nestled in the mountains.

  • S02E03 Ecstasy

    • January 8, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S02E04 Hallucinogens

    • January 15, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S02E05 Ketamine

    • January 22, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S02E06 Pill Nation

    • January 29, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S02E07 Designer Drugs

    • February 12, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S02E08 Grand Theft Auto

    • February 19, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

Season 3

  • S03E01 High Stakes Vegas

    • October 21, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Dealers, gangs and the Mexican cartel traffickers make millions from Las Vegas tourists' demand for illegal drugs.

  • S03E02 Alaska Heroin Rush

    • October 28, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Alaskan dealers make vast profits from crack, heroin and illicit alcohol; street gangs battle for control of the Anchorage drug market.

  • S03E03 Hawaiian Ice

    • November 11, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Hawaii has one of the highest rates of crystal meth users in the nation.

  • S03E04 Drug Kings of New York

    • November 18, 2012
    • National Geographic

    As America's largest city, New York is a distribution hub for narcotics.

  • S03E05 Hurricane Blow

    • November 25, 2012
    • National Geographic

    New Orleans drug trade booms in the era following the Hurricane Katrina devastation.

  • S03E06 Meth Boom Montana

    • December 9, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S03E07 Hollywood High

    • December 16, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Heroin, cocaine and prescription pills in plentiful supply makes Los Angeles one of the biggest drug distribution hubs in the U.S.

  • S03E08 Zombie Island

    • December 23, 2012
    • National Geographic

    Drug dealing in Puerto Rico is examined.

  • S03E09 Motor City Rush

    • December 30, 2012
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S03E10 Coke Kings and Queens

    • January 6, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Cocaine and marijuana drug fueled 24-hour lifestyle for Londoners.

Season 4

  • S04E01 San Francisco Meth Zombies

    • August 11, 2013
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S04E02 Jamaican Gangs, Guns and Ganja

    • August 18, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Kingston, Jamaica, is under the control of sophisticated and warring drug gangs who manage drug trafficking and distribution at all levels.

  • S04E03 Windy City High

    • August 25, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Chicago has one of the largest, most-saturated markets in crack and heroin in America.

  • S04E04 High in Houston

    • September 1, 2013
    • National Geographic

    In the Fifth Ward, a drug hub of Huston, Tex., see firsthand how drugs are dominating the area's economy and populous. We'll talk to a major crack cocaine dealer, a Hispanic street gang member, addicts, a pimp who claims to rule the streets and a full-patch member of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas white supremacist prison gang. Learn about a prescription cough remedy that abusers call “lean” — named because if you take enough of it, you lean or fall over.

  • S04E05 Rocky Mountain High

    • September 15, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Denver's legalization of recreational use of marijuana in January 2014,could be the downfall of the city's gang-banger dealers who have seen falling profits since medical marijuana became legal in 2001.

  • S04E06 Miami Vices

    • September 22, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Miami has been used to traffic drugs into the United States from Latin America.

  • S04E07 Philly Dope

    • September 29, 2013
    • National Geographic

    A northern Philadelphia community is rampant with heroin, crack cocaine and PCP.

  • S04E08 Wasted In Seattle

    • October 6, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Seattle attracts gangsters and dealers with its liberal laws and high demand for drugs.

  • S04E09 Cartel City: Arizona

    • October 13, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Phoenix, Arizona is the de facto wholesale drug capital of America.

  • S04E10 Stashville: Tennessee

    • October 20, 2013
    • National Geographic

    Music and drugs go hand in hand in Nashville.

  • S04E11 The Drug Makers

    • November 17, 2013
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S04E12 Going to Extremes

    • November 24, 2013
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S04E13 Best in the Business

    • November 24, 2013
    • National Geographic

    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.

Season 5

  • SPECIAL 0x1 Breakdown

    • June 29, 2014
    • National Geographic

    This episode takes a look at law enforcement's fight against the country's most dangerous dealers and biggest producers and their attempts to break down notorious drug trafficking organizations. From drug smuggling at New York's JFK International Airport to the dangerous cartel kingpins of Arizona, law enforcement goes on the offensive to thwart the global economic drug trade.

  • S05E01 Salt Lake Sinners

    • July 2, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E02 Cokeland

    • July 9, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E03 PCP in D.C.

    • July 16, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E04 Dope-landia

    • July 23, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E05 Memphis Mayhem

    • July 30, 2014
    • National Geographic

    In Memphis, Tenn., drug habits are changing. Along Elvis Presley Blvd., addicts are switching to heroin as supplies of cocaine dry up following a successful kingpin takedown. Now, dealers with pockets stuffed full of cash are attracting deadly stick-up crews who roam the streets looking for easy targets. Ride alongside Memphis cops as they find themselves confronted by paranoid and trigger-happy dealers as they try to stop a heroin epidemic from engulfing the city.

  • S05E06 Snitch Cities

    • August 6, 2014
    • National Geographic

    Minneapolis and St. Paul — the Twin Cities of Minnesota — are home to some of the purest heroin anywhere in the United States. Here, mobile drug dealers have taken to their cars and check in and out of cheap hotels every few days to make themselves harder to track down. The police are now turning to confidential informants to hunt down the dealers and then need to flip the dealers on their suppliers to get closer to the cartels.

  • S05E07 Molly Madness

    • August 13, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E08 Dallas Dope Cowboys

    • August 20, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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

  • S05E09 The High Wire

    • August 27, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E10 Boston Benzo Buzz

    • September 3, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S05E11 Dealer POV

    • September 3, 2014
    • National Geographic

    Raw. Unscripted. Genuine. This Drugs, Inc. one-hour special not only walks in the shoes of dealers but looks through their eyes. Drug crews in New York, Atlanta and Portland take us on a roller-coaster journey through their daily lives. From firing a shot at a rival gang, to debt collecting, to avoiding cops by diving into an open elevator shaft, this special offers an entirely new viewing experience.

Season 6

  • SPECIAL 0x3 The Inside Man

    • November 9, 2014
    • National Geographic

    A look at how drug enforcement agencies utilize confidential informants and undercover agents to take down illegal drug operations.

  • S06E01 Flesh-Eating Krokodil

    • November 12, 2014
    • National Geographic

    Heroin users in America began showing symptoms associated with Krokodil, a home-cooked opiate, including raw lesions, decaying skin and grotesque sores.

  • S06E02 Bad Boys

    • November 12, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E03 Cocaine White Gold

    • November 19, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E04 Super Meth

    • November 26, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E05 Marijuana Mayhem

    • December 3, 2014
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E06 Manic Molly

    • December 10, 2014
    • National Geographic

    Ecstasy rebranded as pure MDMA is exploding in popularity while new-wave dealers try to distribute a molly alternative.

  • S06E07 New Year's Eve NYC

    • December 18, 2014
    • National Geographic

    A look at the gangs that supply party goers with illegal drugs during New Year's Eve celebrations in New York City.

  • S06E08 Cartel Chaos

    • January 3, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E09 Hardcore Heroin

    • January 7, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E10 Mardi Gras

    • January 14, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E11 Spring Break

    • January 21, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S06E12 Sin-Dependence

    • January 28, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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. http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/channel/drugs-inc/episodes/sin-dependence-day/

Season 7

  • S07E01 The Real Wolves of Wall Street

    • September 16, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E02 Hip Hop High

    • September 23, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E03 X-Rated High

    • September 30, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E04 Cancun Spring Break

    • October 7, 2015
    • National Geographic

    Thousands of students head to Cancun, Mexico for Spring Break and some have only one thing on there mind: to get wasted.

  • S07E05 Jailhouse Junkies

    • October 14, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E06 Big Apple Coke

    • October 21, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E07 Detroit Halloween

    • October 28, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E08 Pittsburgh Smack

    • November 4, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E09 The Living Dead

    • November 4, 2015
    • National Geographic

    The side effects of drug use can be disastrous, but the people living in the world of the living dead fight an epic battle.

  • S07E10 Silicon Valley High

    • November 11, 2015
    • National Geographic

    The drug of choice in Silicon Valley is cocaine, but a cop crackdown is pushing dealers and their programmer clients to meth.

  • S07E11 Grim Reaper

    • November 11, 2015
    • National Geographic

    From the DEA and dealers to users and doctors, Grim Reaper explores the deadliest drugs across the globe.

  • S07E12 Holidaze

    • November 18, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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

  • S07E13 Heroin Island, NYC

    • November 18, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E14 Euro Coke

    • November 25, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E15 Business Behind Bars

    • November 25, 2015
    • National Geographic

    Arresting drug dealers is just the beginning for some in the drug game, as some inmates continue to do business behind bars.

  • S07E16 Aussie Ice Wars

    • December 2, 2015
    • National Geographic

    Outlaw bikers fight cops and Chinese Triads to keep control of the crystal meth trade.

  • S07E17 Tex Meth

    • December 9, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E18 Boston Weed Party

    • December 16, 2015
    • National Geographic

    Marijuana is widespread amongst the student population in Boston and, with National Weed day on the horizon, dealers and students are gearing up.

  • S07E19 Bangkok Ice

    • December 23, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • S07E20 Shooting Up Suburbia

    • December 30, 2015
    • National Geographic

    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.

Additional Specials

  • SPECIAL 0x2 Dealer POV

    • National Geographic
  • SPECIAL 0x7 Chasing The High

    • June 15, 2016
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • SPECIAL 0x8 Cartel Games

    • June 22, 2016
    • National Geographic

    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.

  • SPECIAL 0x9 Working Girls

    • July 17, 2016
    • National Geographic

    Exploring the connection between drugs and the oldest profession in the world.

  • SPECIAL 0x10 Cocaine Crisis

    • May 1, 2019
    • National Geographic

    Cocaine is claiming thousands of lives in the U.S. each year.

  • SPECIAL 0x11 Meth Madness

    • May 8, 2019
    • National Geographic

    Meth claims thousands of lives each year in the U.S. Included: Why it's so deadly and addictive.

  • SPECIAL 0x12 Opioid Epidemic

    • May 15, 2019
    • National Geographic

    Heroin is deadly addictive, but new drugs like krokodil and fentanyl may be even worse.