Drogen im Visier

The cameraman shoots a CBP officer opening a package of cocaine.

Codeine regulation is such a problem in Ukraine that it has spurred ordinary people, sick of corrupt cops protecting pharmacies while their friends and relatives fell prey to Krokodil, to take the law into their own hands. Self-appointed drug control groups mount surveillance operations; send in undercover members wired for video to make buys; then raid pharmacies suspected of selling codeine illegally, confiscating any codeine-based pills they find.

John is a Vietnam Vet who panhandles for drug money. He was made homeless by the 1994 North Ridge earthquake, and has lived on the streets of Hollywood ever since.

A masked NYC dealer with a tray of heroin. New York is America?s largest city, a huge distribution hub with an equally large appetite for narcotics.

Dethy smokes marijuana every day, and does harder drugs when she's out partying at night. It's common for her to do several lines of cocaine in one evening. "It?s probably easier to ask a guy for a bump than it is to get someone to buy you a glass of wine."

MEXICO- The Mexican Army driving to bust a methamphetamine superlab.

Guns and meth pipes.

Baltimore, MD USA: Polizeiautos in Baltimore. (Bildnachweis: National Geographic Channels/Giovanni Ulleri)

Marijuana buds preparing to be wrapped.

Welcome to the $300 billion industry of Drugs, Inc., where traffickers pocket huge profits, addicts become chained in a vicious cycle and law enforces wage war across diverse battlefields - farmers' fields, shady labs, urban street corners and suburban schools. How does this business work? Can it be stopped or should it be regulated? What impact does it have on those it touches? National Geographic Channel presents a hard-hitting new series, Drugs, Inc.,which provides a 360º view of frequently abused drugs: cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and marijuana. Each episode mixes broad context and first-person perspectives from traffickers, dealers, users, law enforcement and medical professionals who take viewers to the core of this lucrative business. The series follows each drug's production cycle, its supply line into our communities and its effects on the human body.

Weltweit hat der Handel mit harten Drogen Hochkonjunktur, und die Gründe dafür liegen auf der Hand: In keiner anderen Branche werden größere Summen umgesetzt, und nirgendwo sonst sind die Gewinnmargen so exorbitant hoch wie im Drogengeschäft - ganz egal, ob es sich um Heroin, Kokain, LSD, Amphetamine oder Cannabis handelt.

Policemen walking to a house.

A marijuana grow house.

Vrae Valley, Peru: Dynamite that is used to explode the Cocaine trafficking airfields.

Homeless Vietnam Vet John panhandles for drug money outside the Hollywood Bowl with his dog.

SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC- La Patua, a cocine cutter.

PITTSBURGH, PENN.- 'Booth,' a heroin user.

LOS ANGELES - Bobby, Drug Runner, about to bring cocaine from Los Angeles up to Silicon Valley.