The War on Drugs

From poaching endangered shellfish to smoking quaaludes, this is the wild origin story of how meth took over South Africa. The use of meth, known as Tik, has skyrocketed across South Africa. It's thought that the country might have one of the highest per-capita rates of crystal meth use on earth. But the wildest twist in the tale is that this may have been ultimately caused by a secret weapons program run by the old apartheid regime itself.

What do watermelons, submarines and sex toys all have in common? They’ve all been used to smuggle drugs. The War on Drugs has forced cartels to become serious innovators. For every method police develop to catch them, drug traffickers will come up with new ways to get their product from producer to seller to buyer. This can lead to advanced technological innovation like narco-submarines and "trap cars". But it can also create violence, coercion and massive political corruption. And, just occasionally, it can lead to hundreds of pounds of cocaine getting eaten by wild bears – a true story, which has now become the inspiration for a Hollywood film. We look at the craziest and most inventive ways cartels have smuggled drugs, and how these have become more and more advanced over time.

Like any war, the War on Drugs runs on propaganda. Mexican cartels stop at nothing to control their public image and the flow of information. From creating entirely new genres of narco-rap music to the emerging generation of Cartel TikTok superstars, drug cartels are becoming pop culture brands. This plays a key role in how they recruit young soldiers and cement their place within Mexican society. But there is also a very, very dark side. Anyone who tries to report on cartel violence and corruption can be attacked and murdered. Mexico is now the most dangerous country in the world for journalists outside of active war zones.

Hezbollah is a Lebanese terrorist organisation and the political party responsible for deadly attacks all over the world. This is the story of how they became major players not just in the Middle East hash trade, but in the global cocaine and amphetamine business – trafficking tons of drugs across the world, and laundering hundreds of millions of dollars for South American cartels. Even murkier is how a major DEA investigation into these activities was allegedly undermined by the CIA and the White House – leading agents from different agencies to all end up accusing each other of endangering national security.