British people statistically take more MDMA in one session than any other country on the planet. And not just a little bit more: on average, Brits take 420 milligrams per session. To put that in perspective, Germans, the same people who invented minimal techno and nightclubs that stay open for 60 hours – take only 200 milligrams. It’s still one of the safest drugs to take, but last year, ecstasy-related deaths reached their highest level in a decade, and now it’s back in the headlines. Some people say it’s drug dealers’ responsibility for selling pills that are dangerously strong and cut with adulterants. Other people point to the government, who have failed to reduce the supply of ecstasy and are refusing to embrace harm reduction strategies that have worked in Europe. Of course it’s also possible that the issue lies with British drug users themselves, who sometimes need reminding that the barometer of a good night out isn’t how much of your tongue is left at the end of it. In this episode of High Society, we find out what’s making ecstasy so dangerous again, and how that danger can be reduced.
Cannabis is the UK's favorite illegal drug. An estimated half a million people use it for medicinal purposes, and many more use it just to get high. In the past decade, many countries have moved to decriminalize or even fully legalize smoking and growing weed, yet the UK government refuses to budge. When over 200,000 people signed a petition last year calling on the city of Westminster to make the production, sale, and use of weed legal, the government responded with a flat-out "no." Yet in some ways, decriminalization is happening through the back door, with many British police forces no longer making cannabis crackdowns a top priority. In this episode of High Society, we explore how that approach to the issue shapes the country's weed culture and meet growers, medical marijuana users, politicians, and a couple of thieves who have come up with a novel way to make money off the UK cannabis trade.
British people use Nitrous oxide more than any other country in the world, and it recently became the second-most popular drug in the UK. The media became obsessed with the drug after a handful of deaths associated with it – often over-inflating its dangers. The government’s response has been to include it in the Psychoactive Substances Act. This is a law that came about in response to the popularity of legal highs, putting a ban on the sale of anything that can change your mental state (except alcohol, cigarettes, and coffee). Now, selling nitrous carries a sentence of up to seven years. We set out to discover what happens when you ban a substance overnight, and how dealers will continue to supply Britain with its best-loved gas.
Timmy Davis is not an alcoholic. But like many twenty-something students, he's worried he may be drinking too much. And cutting down isn't easy. The feel-good memory associations that our minds create – between the sight of a cold pint of beer and pleasure, for instance – lead to the cravings that sustain addictive behaviour, and cause us to relapse. Dr. Ravi Das is a neuropsychopharmacologist at University College London whose research explores whether we can intervene in addiction by weakening those memories. His latest experiment theorises that ketamine – a controlled drug notorious for its recreational use (to attain a state of intense dissociation and incapacitation described as a 'K-hole') – may have the makings of the elusive 'forgetting pill' – a drug that, administered under correct clinical conditions, can weaken specific memories safely. Timmy has volunteered for Dr. Das' latest experiment, in which 90 volunteers will receive a ketamine infusion in a controlled setting. Timmy is no stranger to psychedelics. But could a drug he has previously encountered recreationally really help him cut down his drinking?
The US prescription med, Xanax has been influential in the recent wave of sad rap. With infamous rapper, Lil Pump, cutting a Xanax cake after reaching 1 million followers on Instagram. Since 21 year old rapper, Lil Peep died from a suspected Xanax related overdose, many US artists are denouncing Xan culture. But is this too late as fake versions of the highly addictive drug grip the UK? While fake versions of the desirable XANAX printed bars are appearing in selfies on social media with #bartard and #xanman in the captions, the addictive nature of this psychiatric medication is usually disregarded in comparison to drugs with higher classification, despite withdrawal symptoms including seizures and psychosis. As the numbing quality of fake Xanax becomes more popular amongst anxious mobile-first teens, is this the age old argument of blaming artists for drug culture? Or is there a more serious issue with mental health among young people? From dealers selling counterfeit Xanax on social media, to addicted college kids and Soundcloud rappers with face tattoos, VICE speaks to the next generation self-medicating with fake versions of the anti-anxiety drug, amidst underfunded mental health services for young people in the UK.
VICE visits a homemade DMT lab in the heart of London and sees how the product is made. Splitting his time between teaching chemistry and making DMT, ‘Bob’ shows he has become a real life, Walter White.
Lebanon is about to take a historic step for the Arab World with a proposed bill to legalize the cultivation of cannabis for medical use. But in the fertile Bekaa valley in Eastern Lebanon, where communities have been growing cannabis for generations, this news has not gone down well.
GHB can make you happy and horny with no comedown but a millilitre too much can put you in a coma, or be fatal. And whilst you’re more likely to have heard about GHB in the context of the chemsex scene, or its abuse as a date rape drug, there’s a lack of reporting about its prevalence in the dance music scene. We went out to investigate just how widespread GHB abuse has become, and what we uncovered is alarming. A hidden G epidemic has been spreading through raves and clubs across Europe, leaving a trail of death in its wake. In this special episode from a new series of High Society, we meet Holland’s hardcore fanatics, we travel to Ibiza to see how far the drug has seeped into regular party life, and the Scottish DJ Jackmaster speaks openly about his GHB addiction, for the first time since he was accused of sexually harassing festival staff at a British festival in 2018.
The UK is experiencing a psychedelic renaissance. Young people in England and Wales are taking three times more LSD than they did five years ago, scientists at top universities are claiming hallucinogens can revolutionise how we treat mental illness and the use of magic mushrooms has been increasing by around 40 percent year on year. Music festivals are awash with recreational trippers, but we also see how psychedelics have become a new health craze by attending a shamanic magic mushroom ceremony in which 50 people trip out in a London warehouse. Despite studies showing that psychedelics are some of the safest drugs you can take, we meet one person who spilled a bottle of acid on himself and never stopped hallucinating. What is making this new generation of drug takers so interested in self-transformation? And as the self-help trend grows, what happens when thousands of people start trying to solve their mental health problems themselves by taking powerful hallucinogens in unregulated settings?
What happens when neighboring countries have completely different drug policies? While Sweden rigidly sticks to its zero tolerance laws, liberal Denmark introduced drug consumption rooms (DCRs) in 2012, with special areas surrounding them where you won’t get arrested for drug possession if it’s for personal use. Copenhagen is home to one of the world’s largest government funded drug consumption rooms, H17, where users can safely smoke or inject their drugs with clean needles and medical staff on hand. This has resulted in the local areas being safer and cleaner, as there are no longer thousands of used needles littering the streets. But Denmark’s liberal policy has had an unexpected consequence: an influx of heroin users from neighboring Sweden. We find out why Swedish heroin users prefer to sleep rough on the streets of Copenhagen rather than stay in Sweden, and which of these policies is most effective at tackling overdoses.
Why are more and more young men using Viagra? Obi, a 24-year-old man who would like to stop relying on Viagra, explores what’s behind this new boner renaissance and whether young men like him really should be taking erectile dysfunction medication.
Drugs have never been more marketed than they are now. The most recent European Drug Report refers to this as an “uberisation” of the drug market, with it now being easier to order a gram of cocaine than a pizza. But with this ease of access and glossy marketing has come a dark outcome; a sharp uptake in drug use in children, as young as 10. The world has been hit by a wave of deaths of children who have taken Class A drugs such as ecstasy, and many have been found to have bought those drugs on Instagram and Snapchat. VICE’s Tir Dhondy investigates how easy it really is to pick up, and whether it’s possible to regulate this digital wild west.
Paracelsus in Switzerland is the most expensive rehab in the world, serving a clientele of royalty, politicians, oligarchs, business tycoons and A-list celebrities. Forget the £20,000-a-month celebrities spend at The Priory in Surrey, or the £41,700 they shell out for 45 days at the Meadows in Arizona - a five-week residential rehab here costs a whopping £315,000 – about ten times the average UK annual salary. Staying at a lakeside villa in Zurich with 24/7 limousine transportation, a personal chef, a butler and a concierge, clients have access to a five-star hotel spa and a live-in therapist (who sleeps in the spare room). Activities include tennis, yoga, martial arts, weightlifting, massage and more. We sent writer and model Sydney Lima there to see if it could help her kick her partying lifestyle. But while she was there, she uncovered a strange, unexpected world.
Deadly synthetic drugs made by Russian darknet cartels are spreading through Tbilisi’s world-famous nightlife scene. VICE’s Bo Hanna went there to find out how this has happened in a country where just one milligram of drugs can land you in jail for almost a decade.
While weed laws are becoming more progressive in many states across the US, cannabis cultivation can still get you some serious prison time in the UK. Most smokers have no idea where their buds come from, but the higher demand and continued criminalisation of weed in the UK has engendered a black-market supply chain of human deprivation: ‘Cannabis slaves’, often trafficked from Vietnam, are forced to tend to massive grows worth millions in street value – completely against their will. For spliff connoisseurs who have been smoking their whole adult lives and hold down regular jobs and have families, picking up poor-quality hydroponic weed from dodgy dealers in blacked out cars or down dark alleyways has become less and less desirable. Guerrilla growers are an online community of cannabis cultivators in the UK who harvest their weed plants in the wild, hiding in plain sight sometimes on the side of motorways.
Banks (not his real name) earns tens of thousands of euros every month distributing weed to dealers in a small town in central Germany. But he wants to stop, because he says his product has become poison. The weed he sells is so laced with synthetic cannabinoids that it has become a new drug entirely: something extremely potent, addictive – and possibly lethal.
From Medellin’s elite clubbers to the cartel queens that run the underworld, all of a sudden everyone in Colombia seems to be snorting pink “cocaine,” also known as “tucibi.” It’s fashionable, it’s six times as expensive as regular “white” cocaine, it has its own genre of music called “Guaracha,” and it’s so popular that it has even spawned a whole new generation of “neo-narcos.” Cartels are expanding production into Europe, so expect to see this “magic pink powder” in Ibiza this season - if you haven’t already. But here’s the thing - it isn’t cocaine, and has nothing in common with 2CB (the drug's namesake). So, what is it? Matt Shea delves deep into Medellin’s underworld to find out, in a journey that takes us to the cartel queen who started it all.
It’s commonly accepted that your 20s is the time to get completely off your nut before calming down and respecting yourself. But increasingly, it seems that British people have a different idea. Over 3.7 million over-45s go raving once a week in the UK, and there has been a 518 per cent increase in over-60s being treated for cocaine abuse since ten years ago. These older ravers face worrying health risks that younger ravers don’t - the drugs are stronger, and their hearts aren’t. Will physiology prove to be the ultimate party pooper, or have these pioneers unlocked the key to eternal youth.
Scotland has the highest level of cocaine consumption on the planet according to 2018 data. Scots take on average 1.2 grams of cocaine per session - double the global average. And this epidemic is adding to one of the world’s deadliest drug crises, with a new trend of cocaine injection on the rise. Scotland now has the highest drug death rate in Europe - more than fifteen times the European average. Increasingly, cocaine is a part of that. In 2019, Scotland recorded 365 cocaine deaths, more than in any previous year. We want to know - why do so many Scottish people love cocaine? And what’s the solution when that love for cocaine becomes deadly?
Ketamine has become the generation-defining drug for young Brits. A report from November 2020 stated one in 30 young people admitted to taking the drug in the past year – the highest number since records began and far more than other countries in Europe. The latest figures also suggest that ketamine is now the fourth drug of choice for young people behind cannabis, ecstasy and cocaine. There is a certain cognitive dissonance at the heart of Generation K: On the one hand, we see it as a silly, wonky horse tranquilliser. On the other hand, it is literally a horse tranquilliser... A horse tranquilliser that can make you piss blood. As it has grown in popularity, so have bladder injuries and addictions. In this report, Matt Shea gets deep into the UK’s Generation K, and finds out how a party drug can go too far.
‘Basuco’ is now considered the cheapest drug in the world, at 20 cents a hit. It’s made from the residue leftover from cocaine production, mixed with brick dust, volcanic ash, sulphuric acid, kerosene and sometimes ground-up human bones. The high is all-consuming and shockingly addictive, and an epidemic of basuco dependency is tearing through poor communities all across South America. For the cartels, often the cheapest and deadliest drugs are the most profitable. In this episode, we meet the shadowy figures behind this epidemic and visit the neighbourhoods it has destroyed in its wake.
In this episode, we go to Germany, to see how crystal meth manufactured in Dutch super labs is taking the country by storm, finding users in sex workers, techno and hardtek party kids, and people who were looking for something to do during the coronavirus lockdown, and ended up finding meth.
There are more than 2,000 of these drug routes across the country, producing over a billion dollars in profits a year. In 2022, the Children’s Society estimated that more than 46,000 teenagers were being groomed (in some cases, kidnapped and raped) into selling drugs. These kids are made to skip school and sleep in a drug den for prolonged periods without their family's knowledge. Despite these kids being victims of trafficking, under the Modern Slavery Act, they’re often still charged with weapon offenses, which they arm themselves with as protection against addicts and opposing gangs.
VICE travels to Honduras to meet the infamous MS13 gang and learn about a supposedly powerful new drug that is making them millions. Tiburón or “Shark” is a chemically-altered weed that is said to be more addictive than cocaine and sells like hotcakes. What chemical is used to create this effect remains a mystery. Through spending time with the gang, their clients, their enemies and the Narcotics squad policing it, we learn about the impact this dangerous new drug has had on Honduras. Crucially, we take the toxic weed to a lab to discover if there truly is a secret chemical at the heart of Tiburón.
Ibiza is the world’s greatest party island. And with all the clubbing comes drugs…lots of drugs. In fact, the island is saturated with drugs, with a GTA map full of organised criminals vying for that sweet tourist cash. And just to add to the chaos, you have the season workers, people from across the world who work on the island from May to November, who also love to sell lots, and lots, of drugs. As the season crescendos with its closing parties, VICE’s Tir Dhondy will be getting a rare insight into Ibiza’s criminal underbelly that keeps the island turning.
In this episode of High Society, VICE’s Zach Shucklin heads to Berlin and Amsterdam to learn about 3-MMC’s unique properties, its role in the party scene, and the potential ramifications for its growing popularity.
An estimated half a million men in the UK are addicted to steroids. In fact, the class C drug is the second most used drug after Cannabis. But steroids come with some pretty alarming side effects - from liver and kidney failure as well as mood swings and increased oestrogen which results in men needing breast reduction surgery. In this episode of High Society, we dive into the UK’s steroid epidemic - from the dealers selling it, to the young men getting hooked on it. How dangerous are steroids?
Tulum is experiencing an explosion of people taking Bufo Alvarius. Also called “speed-toading,” it involves smoking the milked poison of the Sonoran Desert toad in a glass pipe and is considered to be the most powerful hallucinogen in the world. Now, growing numbers of psychedelic tourists are traveling to Tulum where Bufo ceremonies are legal, in search of a life-changing experience. However, there are many reports of profoundly negative experiences, lasting psychosis and allegations of sexual assault during ceremonies. VICE’s Matt Shea visits Tulum to see and experience this new Bufo tourism firsthand, to discover whether taking the world’s most powerful hallucinogen is worth the risk.
VICE’s Tir Dhondy explores the hidden world of functioning heroin users who claim to balance their recreational drug use with an otherwise normal lifestyle and asks the question: is it really possible to be a functioning heroin user?
