DOCUMENTARIES
“America’s War on Drugs is an immersive trip through the last five decades, uncovering how the CIA, obsessed with keeping America safe in the fight against communism, allied itself with the mafia and foreign drug traffickers. In exchange for support against foreign enemies, the groups were allowed to grow their drug trade in the United States. The series explores the unintended consequences of when gangsters, war lords, spies, outlaw entrepreneurs, street gangs and politicians vie for power and control of the global black market for narcotics – all told through the firsthand accounts of former CIA and DEA officers, major drug traffickers, gang members, noted experts and insiders.”
BEYOND THE BORDER: THE OPIOID PIPELINE (2018)
"Beyond the Border: The Opioid Pipeline takes you on an exclusive, eye-opening, front lines ride through the pipeline that runs from the shores of the Dominican Republic, through Puerto Rico, up the East Coast and into New Hampshire. With the United States focused on securing its southern border, more traffickers are going through America’s “back door” to get their drugs on the streets where demand is the highest.”
This absorbing documentary series follows the entire supply chain of the illicit drug trade, tracing its production, export, sale and consumption.
BOOKS
“The unfettered prescribing of pain medications during the 1990s reached its peak in Purdue Pharma's campaign to market OxyContin, its new, expensive - extremely addictive - miracle painkiller. Meanwhile, a massive influx of black tar heroin - cheap, potent, and originating from one small county on Mexico's west coast, independent of any drug cartel--assaulted small town and mid-sized cities across the country, driven by a brilliant, almost unbeatable marketing and distribution system. Introducing a memorable cast of character - pharma pioneers, young Mexican entrepreneurs, narcotics investigators, survivors, and parents - Sam Quinones, an acclaimed journalist with the storytelling ability of a novelist, weaves the tale of this catastrophic collision of events.”
Beginning in Africa and ending in Europe, Incarceration Nations is a first-person odyssey through the prison systems of the world. Professor, journalist, and founder of the Prison-to-College-Pipeline program, Dreisinger looks into the human stories of incarcerated men and women and those who imprison them, creating a jarring, poignant view of a world to which most are denied access, and a rethinking of one of America's most far-reaching global exports: the modern prison complex.
TEDx Talks
Tory Utley, Entrepreneur and Executive Director of "More Than an Addict," gives an enlightening talk that sheds light on why recovering addicts really do make the best employees.
What really causes addiction -- to everything from cocaine to smart-phones? And how can we overcome it? Johann Hari has seen our current methods fail firsthand, as he has watched loved ones struggle to manage their addictions. He started to wonder why we treat addicts the way we do -- and if there might be a better way. As he shares in this deeply personal talk, his questions took him around the world, and unearthed some surprising and hopeful ways of thinking about an age-old problem.