BBC World Service - 2025-09-25
#BBCEye gains rare access to the hidden world of Russia’s teenage mephedrone market: meeting the dealers, chemists, addicts and police battling the brutal synthetic drug market. Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM BBC Eye Investigations exposes the growing problem of mephedrone use among Russian teenagers, a synthetic drug known as “meow” or “the poor man's cocaine” - following the entire drug chain from Chinese precursors, to Russian production labs, to the lives destroyed by addiction. Technology has supercharged this crisis. Unlike in the West, where darknet drugs are typically mailed, Russia’s distribution system relies on GPS-tagged caches hidden in public spaces. These rapid, anonymous pickups allow users to access drugs within hours. Behind this system are sprawling darknet markets and encrypted Telegram channels, where vendors recruit teenagers as couriers - or “cladmen” - with promises of fast money. As law enforcement arrests thousands of these low-level runners, the system simply regenerates. 00:00 Introduction: Mephedrone in Russia 03:23 Why is mephedrone is so addictive? 05:47 Inside a rehab centre 07:51 Underage chemist on his production process 11:11 Numbers behind the crisis 13:11 From China to Russia: Dealer and ex-cop on smuggling routes 22:33 Olya: Exchanging her body for the next high 25:56 Maxim: From Russian prison to fighting in Ukraine 31:21 Olya and friends shoot up 34:45 Where are they now? 🎞️ To watch more investigative journalism from our award-winning BBC Eye investigations team, check out this documentary playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLz_B0PFGIn4fa8LK1lptsvoA_spfJhzda You may also be interested in these documentaries: https://youtu.be/BigN9awZC5M https://youtu.be/ANxo0gBM6GM https://youtu.be/zX9Xhnwz-Uw ---------------- This is the official BBC World Service YouTube channel. If you like what we do, you can also find us here: Instagram 👉🏽 https://www.instagram.com/bbcworldservice Twitter 👉🏽 https://twitter.com/bbcworldservice Facebook 👉🏽 https://facebook.com/bbcworldservice BBC World Service website 👉🏽 https://www.bbc.co.uk/worldserviceradio Thanks for watching and subscribing! #BBCWorldService #Documentary #OSINT #Mephedrone #AddictionRecovery #AddictionAwareness #Russia #Moscow #WarInUkraine #Documentaries #WorldService
Olya taking up heroine and getting arrested, max getting sent to die in ukraine and dan coming out clean is somehow like a weirder “requiem for a dream” movie sequel
100%
Dark
Spot on 🎯
Whoa, I was totally getting undertones of Lux Aeterna whilst watching some of these interview sequences.
Remember who writes most scenarios in the world
It’s interesting how a journalist followed up the whole drug chain and police can’t do that
Who said they didn't?
Well... It's hard to investigate Yourself.
And money makes You blind
Who said they can't? The police are the biggest, most dangerous druglords here
They can and they do. But this is just one story among thousands and thousands. Shipments are busted every day. Cooks and dealers are caught every day. But it is a losing battle. The only way to combat drugs is to build a functioning society so people aren't desperate to excape their reality.
police are in the drug chain
the needle sharing is so casual and absolutely horrifying
Hepatitis c and HIV
Yeah wtf how are they this uneducated, crazy country
@GodBless-h3vand it's not like they don't know it
@digarop yeah, how many centuries ago was it? don't mind russians blowing up hospitals and kindergartens in Ukraine today, but remember those evil brittons couple hundred years ago
When I was an addict I was so careful about this. I never shared. Not cotton not a spoon nothing. So I never caught anything and never had an infection. I've been clean for a decade or more before fentanyl came around and I've never been better. To anyone reading this struggling. A couple months of suffering is worth the rest of your life. If I can do it, you can too.
As someone who spent 4 years in this nightmare and lost almost everything, including my health and my mother, I can say this documentary only scratches the surface. Meph is a soul-crusher. I’m clean now, but the scars stay forever. To anyone still in it: stop lying to yourself, it’s not a 'boost', it’s a death sentence. Respect to the BBC for showing this, but the reality is even darker. Recovering is the hardest thing I've ever done, but it's the only way to become human again.
Where are u from? Probably Russia Kazakhstan or Georgia right!
@alikanuriev9607 Russia yeah
@treakiesss agreed, that’s one of the most addictive drugs ever on the planet. It was very difficult for me to quit it. It doesn’t have physical dependence but psychological dependence is extremely high. It harms your body and your life. Never ever go back to it!
А подскажите как вы справились? У меня есть знакомые с данной проблемой, предлагала им отправится на лечение, но все в отказ. Хотя кто-то признает , что на дне, но ничего не предпринимают …
@Ekite215 единицы признают проблему. вы никак им не поможете. сам я завязал только когда жизнь начинала давать явные знаки, что пора прекращать, иначе ничего бы хорошего со мной не случилось. к сожалению если человек сам не захочет/не признает проблему, то вы ничего не сможете сделать. ну либо если это ваш родственник то насильно против воли. потом поймет
I am young Russian. I had a lot of possibilities to try drugs but watching my father and my stepfather being alcoholics I decided that I will not try something that can provoke addiction. I saw drugs (and alcohol is a drug) destroying lives, lives of people who are actually good people in their core.
It is sad to see people trapping themselves in this….
I hope you stay strong💪🏻
Stay strong. My best wishes to you.
It´s important to stay aware, one is actually never safe!
You will end up on a frontline of one of ruzzian wars anyway.
@AndriiMalenko lol, what a clown you are.
It’s sad because these kids don’t understand the gravity behind their actions until they’re in a inescapable position
Crazy, kids as young as 11 or 12 doing meph. How evil selling to children
Mephedrone is a big scene in mumbai .. everyone's on it. I was on it when it hit the markets in 2008 uptill now. And I've ruined my veins and teeth with this.. now I see even school kids on it because it's so cheap and available . I have a heroin problem since 2002 and since 2008 it's been both of them . I know I cannot reverse my actions. The way china sold it online was insane Actually all started after a book was published by Alexander shoulgin the father of MDMA with all the chemicals that can be made from a single chemical base and how little changes in the structure gave u a new party drug salts . Same like 2cb 2ci and all that since.
@DisSiLLuSioNeD316 In mumbai? Never would have thought that
@andrejakobsson5790oh it's crazy .. mumbai is not what u see on YouTube.. mephadrone is very popular in whole of mumbai and they say it came in specially in Muslim dominant areas to ruin their population and fertility rates ..but it's also loved by lot of stugglers of bollywood and call center going people and party people . Acid MDMA and cocain , hash dominate the psyscene.
If ts the same across the globe. People look at adult addicts and say "well you chose this" but they mostly all chose it when they were children. Taking pills their parents or friends legally had or hanging with predators. By the time they are adults they are very very sick.
I started using drugs when I was 15 I’m 47 after years of homelessness and addiction I have been sober for 3 1/2 years this documentary was incredible I pray the people find a a way out
Blessings.
I am glad you made it through
Super job, well done! Keep up the effort you are doing great!
In Russia you can’t. Suboxone is illegal in Russia these guys don’t stand a chance
Congrats! What was it that helped you break cree?
Sad how the girl in the therapy group tells that she does not want to wake up next to strangers and just wants peace. They do everything to raise the money for drugs.
Teens carrying syringes in their bags like they're accessories. This made me so sad. I was always too terrified to take drugs - and now I'm really grateful. These youngsters truly seem to have no fear - and no hopes for the future. 😢
back in 2012 i was injecting this 30 times a day to the point my whole are swelled up. its really addictive
Most teens carrying syringes in their bags are into fitness/bodybuilding and are doing steroids. As a matter of fact the fastest-growing group of steroid users is teenage girls according to JCEM.
I'm from North Dallas, down my street there is a neighboring hood. I'm from the Varrio,we have projects ,addiction, gangs etc. but this neighboring hood is the ghetto.
I remember when I would go to a corner were everyone would hang out as you g people, and I recall seeing people with syringes in one ear, and a crack ,or a meth pipe in the other ear
Growing up I always thought drug consumption was a private ordeal, but to see young people so openly I'm the throws of destruction,really took me aback.
Your a brave person, please don't ever consume just how you said keep staying true to yourself.
God bless you
No future is why they take the drugs in the first place.
More than a MILLION casualties in the war in Ukraine.
Hope is never lost. As long as we're still breathing. After failed brain surgeries at 26 fell into a deep pit. Years later I'm a completely different person. Once hope is gone death comes but sometimes it's the soul and not the body.
This is what depression loneliness, and isolation does to a soul… I’m sorry that anyone needs to numb themselves. We all deserve joy and peace.
Bollox many have hard lives who dont take the easy weak willed way.
@newton18311 everyones different, some who have hard lives dont take them and some do indeed do that, especially if they have parents who are into some addiction (alcohol, drugs etc...). It can be very easy for them to get addicted (especially if they think ohh yea ill try that, i will only try it one time and its weak, so i wont get addicted), not that im saying that every one of them can, but it can literaly be in their genes (passed from the parent with the addiction)
We all have to work on it! For joy!
It breaks my heart for these kids, but also their families who must be so sad and anxious. As if they have not enough of everything else!
Bullshit.
Nah f*ck it
Chinese precursors aren't just a russia issue.. it's prolific here in Canada as well. I believe China purposefully allows this type of thing to be spread like wildfire to western countries akin to the opium wars they were afflicted by in the past.. and now they are turning the tables on the rest of the world.
Yes, in the name of profit people will watch their neighbors burn alive. Greed is the root of the evil in society. It is human, all too human..
I have always said this. It is revenge for the opium wars.
Nah, the world generally runs on much much simpler cause and effects... China doesnt care as much is all. They care about internal drug on their citizens- the rest is just part of the same effect of China producing and exporting everything to all of the world. I bet they police precursos domestically but treat that as something other countries should do for theirs- from their pov they dont care about exports that isolated arent illegal drugs
That goes both ways btw. Numerous substances that are illegal in a country in one way or another, like banned from foods to pesticides are produced and exported. Idk about Canada but that happens all around europe, on the US and i bet most of the world. Im from Brazil, and because of shameful unbans to gray areas we import some pesticides that are widely banned- meanwhile substances we banned that had domestic producers i imagine just pivoted to exports instead
No ill intent nor plots- in most cases i mean. The way the world are i bet purposeful sabotage like that happened in the past, may happen now and in the future, but on the landscape of geopolitical conflicts and hybrid wars(a subject i follow) that is such a soft, unreliable and long term take that i doubt countries are seriously counting on something like that... theres many many more effective uses of money, time and plays they can make against enemies.
Like the pareto rule i imagine 80-90% of most evils of the world come from the same few causes... and that mostly falls to indiference, capitalism, greed. Its like enviromental polution- CEOs arent grinning with evil smirks with hidden agendas to poison the land, theyre just looking at their bottom line, quarter results and the easiest way to increase profit is cutting costs...
And fgs that happens domestically in all countries. Also literal law breaking, domestically, harming the population going against the law just for profit... exports? "Someone elses problem" plays hard in this case. Fgs international law went hard against the use of mines, yet for decades mines were used around the world- sold by countries that dont get the outcome(biggest of all the US). I bet China does that too, Russia, Europe...
It is just business okay. You want to get high, it is on you and your countrymen dont blame any others. If China doesnt sell it to you, some other will sell it to you
Exactly.. it's a long game, while China has policies in place to limit the mandatory screen time for its young kids on certain apps.. they flood the west with precursors to destabilize and debilitate western youth for many generations to come
"Poor people's cocaine", unfortunately common in Eastern Europe. A very well-made documentary.
Almost year clean from heroin.
I pray everyone can know the happiness of getting clean. You HAVE to want it though.
❤
Congratulations. That is a great achievement. Keep it up.
That’s the million dollar question; how to change desire into something healthy. The way I do it is through love. It fills my heart and balances my mind, and gets me doing good in the world (love finds joy in serving others). Finding purpose from that love takes the mind away from its prior rubbish purposes. And the more locked in you are the less you think of addiction. Eventually it even becomes a habit and your natural state. It’s also ecstatic (better than the drug) :). Our true desire is to give love.
Congrats!! ❤
Congratulations! Keep up the good work. We believe in you
wow ur so brave. u should do one for a reward.
Terrific reporting. As a father to a young son, my heart is in panic mode
Panicking for the enemies of the west eh?
Stay close to your son. God Bless you both.
@TheRealFreznoBob they're just kids, you weirdo
@TheRealFreznoBobyou turned us into your enemies. You decommunised us we turned to you for everything then you chose to treat us as inferiors. We only did whats natural and learned to resist you. We don't want to be you enemies but we don't want to be dictated on how we need to live by your rules when you yourselves don't follow them
@Russkiman96 oh, everyone is hurting and attacking you, so you have to wage wars, don't you? Oh you are soooo peaceful 🤣 You either don't know your own history or you are outright lying Sasha.
The first girl reminds me a lot of myself.
As a child, I often felt like an outsider — and the party crowd, my friends back then, gave me for the first time a sense of belonging.
From around 15 to 20, we lived from one party to the next, from one endless afterparty to another. We slept maybe one or two days a week.
Looking back, I’m still amazed by what the body is capable of — how much it can hold, regenerate, and heal.
At a certain point, we started to stutter; that was the first time I asked myself, “What will I look like ten years from now — if I’m even still alive?”
We became more and more paranoid, mentally fragile. Many friends ended up in prison for drug possession.
Then one day, a wake-up call came — and this time, I allowed myself to listen.
After that, I completely removed myself from the whole scene, from everyone I once called a friend.
Sixteen years later, sober — not even drinking alcohol — I’m still piecing together childhood trauma and learning, step by step, how to love myself fully.
so proud of you😭❤️
Nice ChatGPT post
@ingwiafraujaz3126 As a Slavic lady, I gladly use AI to refine my grammar.
You have the same story as mine. Started at 14, quitted everything at 21. Relapsed at 23 for 4 months and after almost an overdose, I had a wakeup call and got completely sober, even from cigarettes. Had 2 drinks since then. I’m 28 now.
It takes a lot of willpower and it was my choice.. no one could convince me to quit.
Keep going!!
I started stuttering to, really bad
Olya never got further than the "wanting to want to give up" stage.
Hard to fix a problem the country does not acknowledge
Their country is busy committing genocide against Ukrainians
Same with war, they think it's a right deed.
@Name-wy5zj do you think they started it out of boredom ?
@AlexKarasevPutin has started it because he's got some mental issues, the people of Russia have allowed it because they're indifferent.
@Trabant_yellow You think this take is plausible? Have you endeavored to see if there are other possible reasons?
The first girls story reminds me of myself. I'm 37 and a male but when I started using methamphetamine at 14 I knew almost immediately I had a problem that didn't have an easy solution. Now I'm 16 years clean and so glad of that I hope and pray these young people can get clean and stay healthy°
For me it started with alcohol, started getting drunk every day at 15. I couldn't find other drugs, so I started sniffing glue. Then I found other drugs.
Seriously… adult addicts can spend thousands of dollars per month feeding a habit. Where on earth do 14 and 15 year old get the level of funds for this?
@trentbell1873 how long did it take to get clean ?
@DorianLeyva-qm3sz from meth, after i decided to get clean, just 2 years. I struggled with pills for a few years after that. I consume cannabis, and occasionally mushrooms, but i consider that medicine for my mental health.
@theresurrectionandthelifewhy???
Honestly, here in Siberia, we have a huge problem with drugs . Many of my friends passed away, many became dealers and now have to spend from 10 to 15 years in prison. Unfortunately, this is the war, which almost every county of the world has lost…
Very sad, drug addiction.
Ever since the US "War On Drugs," more and more dangerous drugs have been synthesized and sold by our own government as time passes. Criminalize the safe stuff, then fabricate some more dangerous stuff.
Passed away? Might be if you grew up in 90s. Currently i bearly heard someone died from it
The RF isn't big on the 12 Step Solution. They have it but not like the US. The Russians will deal with this.🤍💙❤️🙏@РэйЧехов
Not every country has lost the fight. Many Southeast Asian countries impose the death penalty on drug dealers, even if they are only carriers. And most Southeast Asian countries are relatively safe from drugs.
I live in Moscow, and I can confidently say that drugs are a widespread issue here. In my social circle, there have been people struggling with addiction. They were all very different — some had difficult lives, others seemed to have good ones — but they still ended up addicted and remain that way. Getting drugs here is about as easy as it is for a minor to get alcohol or cigarettes — in other words, it’s easy. Even if you go for an evening walk in the city center, you’re very likely to come across someone who’s addicted. I can’t imagine what it’s like in other regions. It’s awful that the authorities don’t seem to care about the well-being of their people, especially young people.
its the same in Bulgaria-only if you have ever been around drug addicted people you can recognize their addiction just by being around them.
i can see addicted to drugs people everywhere... they are hidden from society-because society is too naive and ignorant to acknowledge their presence
Drug addiction is a problem in many countries, but Russia fortunately is still a safe country compared to those drug infested countries
There is no YouTube in Moscow, in Lvov only😂
@DelDr26 Even here there are idiots who mindlessly write about the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Well done
@GeMatOmka2003Odessa❤Russia
"I thought it couldn't get any worse. I was wrong."
yep
Same rn
NEVER underestimate how bad shit can get - it can ALWAYS get worse, and the only point at which it no longer can, is when you're dead
"yep" what? have you been there, done that?
Youngsters feel trapped in an extreme world of politics, wars and greed. They want to enjoy and break free of everything. They also go to extreme lenghts to get what they want.
You gotta fight for your right to party.
How do you know? Personally idc about politics. It's the least of my worries
Да нет им никакого оправдания, они живут в нормальном мире с большими возможностями
@thefridge7335 you don t care abt politix, but when you will earn money, you will see everything is politic near you.
@elenanet5695да? Многие из них могут поступить в Оксбридж к элите?
Wow disgusting 19yo man dating a 15yo and using his influence to destroy the teenagers health and future
19 и 15 лет это ещё такие дети ,не нужно разницу в возрасте тут переводить как пример жертвы и садиста
19 лет — это студент второго курса, а 15 — 9 классница. Для 19 летнего 4 года — 0,21 жизни, для 15 — больше четверти. Это огромная разница в опыте, даже если более старший долба3б. Так что авторитетом (в ее глазах) он точно мог на нее надавить, и надавил же.
Nineteen and fifteen they both are teenagers
@Sneg31467 And it's still just as different as an 8 year old and a 13 year old. The 13 year old knows pretty well how to play the 8 year old. Even one year older in a school grade can easily play the younger one. We all know this yet men want to protect the world in which they never need to take responsibility like forever children.
@Rich_arbovich That's called rape in first world countries.
Man I wish everyone the best, thanks for keeping that young man's diaries and being there for him, he knew he wasn't coming back, so he trusted you with everything to try and change even a single person
I’m not gonna lie, this is one of the most thorough, gritty, best edited, emotionally gripping & well narrated documentaries that I’ve ever come across online. This was like the real word cliffs notes of Requiem For A Dream. I am genuinely sad for everyone featured here & wish recovery and happiness for them all.
watch 20 days in mariupol
Watch Case of Cherie
It's like an old Vice doc
@Lefortoffowhere can I find the video ur referring to?
@wa2k360I’m watching 20 Days in Mariupol now. Thank u for the recommendation 🤘
Seeing olya go to heroine and talk about how only one of her friends writes to her and the rest don’t really care unless she has heroine broke my heart and made me sick to my stomach. I don’t think she is a disgusting human, it makes me sick to watching her spiral. I really hope she is able to overcome this and meet better people so she can get her life back on track
I actually felt really sad for her. I hope she doesn’t go back to that life after her sentence.
Better people 😂... I am 40 most ppl are not better. But she has a lot of charisma hopefully she makes it even without the selfish egotistical ppl that are walking death zombies right now on Earth. Find nature animals..maybe the far and few real ones
I hope that the best people will not meet her, because she will rather drag them down to her bottom, than they will make her better.
That's the reality of that lifestyle. You might be lucky enough to have a couple of friends who care ,thr rest are only associates who just use you for what they can get from you. I learnt this when I moved city and got clean eventually. Only 3 friends stayed in touch by phone . Sadly 1 died the other 2 also got clean and we are still friends 33 years later and still clean.
its kinda ironic too cause in the beginning she had mentioned how she would only hang out with a guy cause they had drugs
Excellent. Those diaries were a glimpse into such wasted potential, I bet he could have really been someone if so many things about his education and upbringing were different. God, what a waste of a life.
The worst person not only survived but kept thriving and the ones with more pure hearts had a tragic story…
Something so deeply vivid and cruel about this story…
That's how it usually goes, though. Worst of the worst have no limit 2 what they do 2 survive & thrive while the more kind & gullible are used & discarded.
If you meant Max, he isn't more pure in any way, he went from prison to becoming a killer. That's pure evil.
None of them are pure in any way. I feel empathetic because they are unmistakeably human. But they made their choices and keep making them over and over again. It's never too late... until it is.
@icyman2 well you can’t say „im planning to desert first chance i get“ with the authorities watching
He only brings the supply to an already existing demand. He doesn’t force people to do drugs at gunpoint, and people who use irresponsible-well as said it’s their responsibility. You can offer addicts help but if they don’t want it, theres nothing you can do. If they don’t get high with your drugs they will use krokodil made from cough pills at home. With what’s going on in russia since the invasion, selling drugs is a relatively moral way to make money. The soldiers who die because corrupt officials sold their body armor and gave them airsoft vests, or swapped the reactive tank armor for cardboard boxes never had a choice
Where are Olya's parents? Poor girl is so lonely, feeling as if she's needed only due to her drug access... she needs supportive friends and family
Mother is probably alcoholic, father went to pootin army and was killed.
It's Russia. Her Dad is probably dead, drunk or strung out himself. Her Mom is probably a prostitute or something. I know people see Moscow and think Russia is fantastic but then you get outside of Moscow and realize all these cities have been empty and abandoned for at least twenty five years
Teens leave their parents house early
Бро, ты уверен? Я думаю, что как раз и семья могла до подобного довести, ибо обычно из семьи идет всякое плохое, а окружение только подливает масло в огонь. Алкоголь - первая классикой страны, а "Мяу-мяу" - новая классика их детей.
Я живу тут, все вижу. У нас ребята на парах могут закинуться белым порошком или покурить травы, а учителя могут быть пьяными. Мне самому это все не близко, но это наш менталитет, который вряд-ли когда-то поменяется.
@1_rassvetI agree
As a teenager in the UK who used to deal Mephedrone and use from the age of 15, i can tell you it tore up an entire generation of youth here in London in the late 2000's and early 2010's. I knew someone who had to have a thumb removed from vasoconstriction, another carved his cats name into his arm with a knife after the cat passed away, because i accidentally had sold him MDPV (bathsalts, its a cathinone like mephedrone but much stronger, it wasnt my fault as my supplier mixed up the bags). I used to spend days even weeks not sleeping, on this stuff on the streets, selling, taking it, and just flying around like a zombie. I DO NOT MISS THOSE YEARS WHATSOEVER. Cathinones will suck your soul dry, theyre worse than crack or meth in my opinion.
They're nothing next to fentanyl though. I understand they're bad but fentanyl is just ugh...
@ungrateful-66yes fentanyl will take you down further than almost any other drug. Horrible horrible drug.
What was his cat's name?
Meow Meow
Lovely
To see that young lady put so much energy into her appearance and then destroy it at the same time with these horrendous drugs
we used to chat online with olya around 5 years ago. never talked since, crazy to see this on my youtube home page today. wow
TimothyGrabarczyk little to no chance, sadly. russian prisons are abysmal. the person getting clean needs to trully really want to do it.
TimothyGrabarczyk they say there is no better rehab than a prison, usually no drugs there, especially in female ones
What was she like?
Для женщин тюрьмы вполне приемлимы (по сраврению с мужскими колониями) . Достать наркотики в женской тюрьме практически невозможно
What happened with her?
So sad. The older generation have been killing themselves with Vodka for years. It has always been a depressed & sick society.
no country is exempt or safe from things like that. look at Kensington or Meth mile in Boston and its just 2 of many
You would know, the BBC told you.
You are sick.
Dumb and sick!
What did you do for the world ,taken your Prozac ,weed and Oxempic ? What did you create for the World? Nothing. None. ,Zero.
So ,drink your beer,you have been drinking all your life and keep quiet.
@griggpv
nope, seen with my own 2 eyes, sweetheart
If you travel from Finland to Karelia, now russia, you will see how depressing it is in russia
This realist style of documentary is so intense, raw, absolutely heartbreaking.
Ruzzia is a a genocial cesspool ...killing millions in Ukraine to impose this wonderful Russki mir ( Russianworld ) there!
I was flat out on meph for 6 months, nearly died. Never again
It's NEVER too late to turn your life around and be sober
It is for Maxim. It was for my granddaughter. That is not a true statement. 😊
While you're generally correct, studies have shown that, for certain long-term addicts, a more effective way of treatment is to keep them on clean, legally supplied doses of their respective substance. For a lot of people, successfully withdrawing and living a sober life is actually much harder than maintaining an orderly working life while still consuming as long as they don't have to worry about withdrawal symptoms or acquisitive crime. This is obviously limited to people who don't operate cars or machinery, don't work with children or other vulnerable people, etc. In any case, there are people who literally cannot turn their lives around anymore and will certainly die otherwise where this would absolutely help.
@Nitidus what are your sources? I smell bs
@NitidusThat statement has no scientific backing.
The real problem I see: Nose rings... why??
This is why parents need to stay available to their children for all life.
Don't have a child if you're not ready to support them for the rest of your life.
Even people with supportive parents end up addicted. I would bet money that Dan’s parents were both wealthy and available, but Dan still ended up running a drug ring. I am a mental health therapist, and have worked with addicts since 2005. More than half of my addict patients have supportive families. It might help during treatment, but it doesn’t prevent addiction.
No. If you lack common sense and personal responsibility, you’ve got only yourself to blame, not your parents, the government or God.
@animaanimus8011 I feel like the majority of addicts who don't have supportive parents/families do not even get a chance to see a mental health therapist
What parents? This is Russia, bro. The Divorse rate is over 70%, many kids never see their father and their mother is either only avaliable to the new partner (and forgot the kid), either is workimg 50h/week.
My freinds dad was a police officer hes still addicted to coke his parents pay his drug debts, he's 20+ gettin money off his parents for drugs. Idk why they fund him he cant even keep a job.
She asked Maxin if he's ready to go kill, but he's already helping kill people with his drugs. Olya says her friends don't come around and nobody knows her when she doesn't have herion, drug contacts are not your friends. Neither are drug dealers, they are just friends of your money.
Maxim isn't killing anyone anymore, he's fertiliser:)
@JK...... That's horrid.
@JK......autism
@JK...... 🔱🔱🔱🔱🔱
@JK...... Poetry
This is a good reporter...She deserves a raise. Great Doc.
'' We are the lost Generation of the 21st Century', Maxim's words touched my heart so deep, most young people of my age, grow up without no father in the household, no direction in life, in corrupt countries that are ruled by Dictators that steal from their own people, opportunities to work to have a better life are not for all, it's a sad and messed up World that we are all living in.
В России работы хоть завались и у детей 21 века возможностей очень много себя реализовать. Это видимо проблемы в семье.
yet Maksym decided willingfully to go to Mariupol, a martyr city where thousands of people were murdered and to fully embrace the criminal intents of his country over another country, and he died like a dog there. There is nothing to feel sorry about, russia is a giant sh*thole
@elenanet5695 I agree. We see these stories all over the world. When people feel they have no hope for a better life or an escape from their family or personal situations. It's not only a problem in Russia. It happens in every country, even places like Scandinavia that have all the opportunities in the world and social systems.
@elenanet5695 Big egos and playing the perpetual victim does not help either ... opportunities are there if you look for them ...
8 years and 9 months sober and not a day goes by that I am not haunted by my ghosts and tempted by my demons but I will fight every single second with every single breath I have left on this earth to never let them get me again. I pray for all those lost souls those incredibly young souls who are being corrupted into the darkness of addiction. It is bound by no borders or countries, it is a crisis, a plague of all humanity that affects everyone from the users to the people that love them and beyond. 🙏
So proud with you!!! May you have all the strength needed! To build a life that feels good work with dopamine serotonin oxytocin these hormones help us feel good. Hack your brain. That's what I am doing. Ppl think I act strangely but I am fighting for my life. Any small change is a win
When addiction kicks in it's no fun at all.
Very hard work!
I wish I never tried anything
That is incredible work , really. You have got to be really strong to achieve that. Makes me wonder sometimes when I hear these experiences that you are fighting harder sober versus when being in active addiction…..
One year sober now, after 13 years of pure hell. Everything can change if you are willing to, i hope all the best for all of you out there.
Respect
You are awesome… never forget that!!! You’re worth it… you’re important my friend …. i’m 4 yrs sober from speed 🙏
@Zoomer9kpharmaceutical speed …. it’s all the same…. the addiction is mental….anyone can endure the physiological effects…. the pain in the mind is my nemesis
Yep, 13 years is enough time for the monkey to become a gorilla. I know it all too well.
After 20+ years off the sht, I still feel a kind of PTSD from all of the stuff I did and/or went through, and can get anxiety and panic attacks when memories pop into my head.
@stringlarson1247omg me too…. the flashbacks still remain daily for me friend…. forgiving oneself is not as easy as some may think… all the best to you 🇨🇦❤️
Well made documentary.
I named my kitten after this drug 15 yrs ago when it came up on the news…. Meow meow is still alive and purring
Dealing with emotional pain is a monumental task. Numbing oneself gives some relief but, doesn’t last and addiction starts. Childhood trauma and neglect stays with us. Finding effective help is another obstacle. It’s a long hard road. I’m 66 and still feel wounded. Again I just started therapy because I couldn’t stop crying.
I feel you. That's the same here. I hope that now you feel better and i wish to you the best. You are worth it ❤
May you get everything you need for your highest welfy
❤❤❤
At 9 minutes they show an odens cold dry sticker. its an very potent snus pouch which i have fond memories of because it had a nice kick. We used it in school.
Sorry you were wounded as a kid and sorry you are still in pain. The traumatic memory is amazingly persistent. I'm dealing with this all my life and I'm very surprised that time alone doesn't heal it. I basically stopped expecting my flashbacks to cease, and I learn to love all parts of myself despite the flashbacks. It's a tough task to love a wounded person, but also it's a wonderful adventure full of meaning and beauty. Please know that you are not alone, and that you are magnificent and lovely just the way you are, no matter how traumatized. You don't need to fully heal to be beautiful.
Drugs have a horrible way of opening up the door for your more animalistic and evil side to show itself.
They most definitely do, from my own experience when I started using fentanyl on the daily I became quite a hot head, I don't know how many times I've pulled or chased somebody with a machete, hammer, an ice pick and many more tools or weapons however you want to call them. For small stuff too like someone ripping me off for $5 or even just saying something disrespectful towards me. Nowadays though most people that know me don't ever try to fuck with me anymore cause of my past behavior and it's kind of nice especially having to grow up being bullied all the time at home and school. Fentanyl has definitely made me not care if I end up hurting someone when before I would always run from conflict.
Meph was one of the first drugs I ever took and I has since then been an drug user for most of my life. I have taken pretty much all drugs there is and NOTHING comes close to how good meph makes you feel and how insanely addictive it is. You need to have the willpower of a god to not take more if you have anything more on you. I havent taken any mephedrone since about 2010 and I still miss it.
I'm a native Russian speaker, but I had to read the subtitles to understand what the guy was saying around 23:00
Тоже не поняла вообще ничего из его речи. Как будто на незнакомом языке говорит.
haha learned some basic russian sentences and even i could tell this is the worst mumbling ever
Hearing all of their fates and realising that some of them are either in prison or dead send actual shivers down my spine
@BBCWorldService - 2025-09-25
Click here to subscribe to our channel 👉🏽 https://bbc.in/3VyyriM
@true.is.around - 2025-09-26
u care more about ruzzians that own citizens ?
@gulhasan7990 - 2025-09-26
Oh cmooon
Relapsing is not a mistake and if someone doesn't give shit about cautions directed from blood relations why would he/she listen random people. It's just a dopamine push to give a useless interview!
@WDiCT9mW - 2025-09-27
The real problem I see: Nose rings... why??
@sodanakin - 2025-09-27
What is this weird rebrand of the channel? "World Service" ?
The british have a negative narrative they push about Russia, can you explain why anyone should take any of your research as factual and not just more Russia hate?
@gulhasan7990 - 2025-09-27
Fresh shoulders are always required in the blame game!