S1 E1 • The Truth About Ecstasy

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.

Première diffusion : 3 octobre 2016

S1 E2 • How Weed Laws Are Failing the UK

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.

Première diffusion : 24 octobre 2016

S1 E3 • Inside the Laughing Gas Black Market

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.

Première diffusion : 7 février 2017

S1 E4 • Eternal K-Hole of the Spotless Mind

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?

Première diffusion : 29 juin 2017

S1 E5 • Xanxiety: The UK's Fake Xanax Epidemic

Première diffusion : 21 mars 2018

S1 E6 • Inside a Home DMT Lab Run by A Chemistry Teacher

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.

Première diffusion : 28 janvier 2019

S1 E7 • Lebanon’s Green Gold: The Debate to Legalize Cannabis

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.

Première diffusion : 15 avril 2019

S1 E15 • Inside a Secret Weed Farm Hidden in Plain Sight

Première diffusion : 21 novembre 2020

S1 E16 • The Dangerous Rise of Contaminated Weed

Première diffusion : 4 janvier 2021

S1 E17 • The Pink “Cocaine” Wave

Première diffusion : 5 juin 2022

S1 E18 • The Geriatric Ravers Still Smashing Drugs: Gravers

Première diffusion : 18 juin 2022

S1 E19 • Is Scotland the New Cocaine Capital?

Première diffusion : 2 juillet 2022

S1 E20 • Pissing Blood: The Ketamine Time Bomb

Première diffusion : 16 juillet 2022

S1 E21 • Smoking Cocaine Mixed with Human Bones: Basuco

Première diffusion : 30 juillet 2022

S1 E22 • New Crystal Meth is Stronger Than Ever

Première diffusion : 14 août 2022

S1 E23 • Turning Teens Into Drug Runners

Première diffusion : 27 août 2022

S1 E24 • MS13's Toxic Weed That’s 'More Addictive Than Cocaine'

Première diffusion : 10 septembre 2022

S1 E1 • A Non-Stop Party: The Dark Side of Ibiza

Première diffusion : 25 mai 2023

S1 E2 • 3-MMC: The Party Drug Taking Europe by Storm

Première diffusion : 21 septembre 2023

S1 E3 • Roid Renaissance: The UK’s Steroid Epidemic

Première diffusion : 11 octobre 2023