Cocaine ` long regarded as the drug of choice of the super wealthy. (MAGICAL TINKLING) But today it's stronger, cheaper and more dangerous than ever before, with millions of users across the globe. (SNIFFING) - I don't remember the last time I've been even in a pub that people aren't doing it. - Now, four casual cocaine users are going on camera to talk about their cocaine use. - (SNIFFING) - I'd usually take cocaine either off a key or off my hand itself. Yeah, just... - How much do they know about their drug of choice? - It actually started to cause their skin to rot. - MAN: Oh! - (LAUGHTER) - The reality of its journey from the Amazon rainforest in Colombia... - What is this? (BLEEP) battery acid? - ...to a worldwide market. The human cost of the supply chain. - (BLEEP) that people have to go through all this. - And what happens when it becomes more than just a party drug? - Basically, I'm lucky to be alive. - Will they still take drugs for fun? Or will living with the cartels change their minds forever? - I haven't really got a reason to stop using cocaine. - (SNIFFING) - I don't see that there's an issue in doing it. - I think it's gonna be a real eye opener. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021 - (SNIFFING) - Despite it being an illegal drug, cocaine production is at its highest rate in history. Our four casual cocaine users were strangers brought together from across the UK. First, public relations consultant Amber. - The majority of the time, when it comes to doing coke, um, it will be friends who do the deed of the picking up. I've done it once or twice. (CHUCKLES) Once dressed as a chicken. - Airport load operator Louis. - Working in an airport yourself, uh, obviously you see young groups of girls, lads going out to Ibiza or wherever they might be going. I've seen people taking cocaine in the airport itself, in the toilets. - Model and make-up artist Chanel. - One of my more interesting nights that I've had out on it was a time that me and my best friend, we went on a double date to The Lion King. So we're up singing and dancing along, and then obviously it's a very quiet theatre, so these people are looking at us like, 'Shh.' It's like, 'Just because you don't know the dance moves, don't hate on us.' - And supermarket worker Troi. - Best thing about cocaine is just how easy it is to get hold of and everyone does it sort of thing. It's like the norm to do cocaine on a night out. (SNIFF!) - So far, they've learnt the cocaine on Britain's streets is now four times stronger than 10 years ago. - 78.5. - Wow, that's impressive. - I was thinking it'd be 5%, 10% max. - And in Colombia, the world's number one supplier of cocaine, they discovered more was being produced now than at any other time in its history,... - You know how much we pay for a gram at home? - No. - It's 100 pound. - Ah... - ...with the cartels exporting record amounts by air, by land and by sea. - How much cocaine would you be able to fit on here? - And they realise the pain the cocaine war is causing by remembering a fallen soldier. - Are you`? Are you sure? - (TRANSLATION ON PHONE) - Si. - Just one of 260,000 Colombians killed in the name of cocaine. - Wow. - You have to think about these things, that there is a much bigger picture going on than just being in the pub on a Friday night. (PLANE WHOOSHES) - After two weeks in Colombia, they're now back home to investigate firsthand what's happening on the streets. - See you in a bit, mate. Take care. - What effect is this new super strength cocaine having on the country and the people who take it? (GLITCHY SYNTH MUSIC) Today, Amber is in London. And Troi in Bristol. - All I've heard is` I don't know if it's accurate or not, but most �20 notes have some sort of trace of drug, and it's usually cocaine. - Both have cocaine testing swabs used by customs officers around the world. People often take cocaine by snorting the drug through a rolled up banknote. Microscopic traces can be left in the creases. In its life, a �20 note will be passed between 2300 people. Will any of those previous owners have used the note to snort cocaine? - You all right? - Hello. - Um, don't suppose you would mind me testing one of your �20 notes, do you? - No, not at all. - (CHUCKLES) - The swabs can detect trapped particles that are 1000 times smaller than visible to the human eye. - Do you have a �20 note on you? - As long as I don't have to hand my own �20 note in for evidence. - (CHUCKLES) - Two lines, however faint, indicate possible presence of cocaine. - I mean, it's already coming through. (LAUGHS) - MAN: That's quite surprising cos you never think that, you know, the money you have in your pocket has cocaine traces over it. - A study by the Forensic Science Service estimated that within two weeks of entering circulation, every single banknote in Britain will be contaminated with the drug. - So I'm just gonna rub that all over the banknote. - (CHUCKLES) Yeah, it's positive for cocaine. - Ahhh... - There's a trace of cocaine on your note. - Gosh, I'd never have believed it. - No, you wouldn't have thought, would you? - No. - Bet you weren't expecting this today. - It's surprising. I assure you, I'm innocent. - LAUGHS: Yeah, no, I believe you. - If it's positive, a line will show up on the left-hand side. We may have just found one of the first banknotes in London that hasn't tested positive. - I think it's a new note, so... - OK. Have you just got it out of an ATM? - I got it from a currency exchange office in Melbourne, Australia. - Oh, OK. - The only banknote that tested negative was a brand new one issued on the other side of the world. - That's one of the fresh ones. - Yes. - And it's clean. - Banknotes aren't the only everyday item used to take cocaine. Credit cards are often used to prepare it for snorting, and any surfaces they touch may become contaminated. - Yeah. (BLEEP) Positive. (SIREN WAILS) - Just shows that it is actually everywhere. (CHUCKLES) - 38,000 people pass through London's Westminster Underground station a day,... and the contactless card readers have tested positive. - I am genuinely shocked. (FUNKY MUSIC) - Some users are so brazen,... - It's positive again. - ...they'll even rack up lines just a few hundred metres from the Houses of Parliament. (CLOCK BONGS) - If it's at Parliament Square in a phone box, it's gotta be everywhere. - Britain is experiencing a cocaine epidemic. And masterminding the country's response is the National Crime Agency. Amber has been granted a meeting with the manager of operations, Vince O'Brien. - So, we work closely with partners internationally to tackle the gangs looking to supply cocaine into this country and to disrupt those gangs in the most efficient and effective way. So over the last 12 months, we've had seizures of over 2 tons of cocaine in small vessels off the south of England. - Most of the Colombian cocaine arrives here by sea via Europe. In total, the authorities seized 5.5 metric tons of the drug in 2016. The following year, seizures were down almost 40%. - We don't measure our success in terms of how much cocaine we seize. We measure our success in terms of the organised criminal gangs that we're disrupting and making sure that we do that effectively. It means working with partners to help tackle demand for drugs in the first place. - And demand is skyrocketing. Five times more people in Britain use cocaine now than 20 years ago. - We have a demand for cocaine, and that brings with it a significant amount of criminality and harm. And I think the thing that's been particularly prominent this year is the impact of serious violence on our streets, where we've had rising amounts of knife crime and firearms discharges, and significant elements of that are linked to gangs competing for drug supply in a violent way. Every single line of cocaine comes with significant levels of harm and exploitation. - It's the organised criminals. You know, the underworld of this is just shocking, to be honest. It's not just you as the end user, having a good night out. There's so much more going on. - There is an underworld ` groups that are highly organised and incredibly secretive. They rarely lift the veil on their illegal operations... until now. - Are you nervous about meeting him? - I'm a little bit anxious cos I don't have a clue where we are. - One individual with insider knowledge of the cocaine trade has agreed to meet Louis and Chanel at 2am in a secluded location on the coast. - Like, say, he could have people like waiting around and stuff and we'd be none the wiser. (DARK MUSIC) - I think this is the place. - I'm actually quite nervous now. (PENSIVE MUSIC) - In 2017, cocaine was the most commonly seized class A drug, with Border Force, NCA and Police capturing 15,000 shipments. - Yeah, I think he's there. - Yeah, there he is. - Maximum penalty for drug trafficking cocaine is life imprisonment. but only 11,000 a year are prosecuted for possession. - I get quite conscious about carrying cocaine around big cities like Bristol. - No, I never worry about getting stopped and searched by the police, to be honest. - I think if you was to get caught with cocaine on the street now, they'll probably just take it off you and say, 'On your way.' - Oh God, I'm gonna get stopped all the time now, aren't I? I'm gonna get locked up and everything. - Where do my girlfriends tend to hide their cocaine? Leave that one up to the imagination. (CHUCKLES) - (CHUCKLES NERVOUSLY) - This is the guy, innit? - Hopefully. Never know. - At an anonymous location, airport load operator Louis and model and make-up artist Chanel are meeting a vital link in the cocaine supply chain. - Louis. Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you. Chanel. - So what exactly is it you do? - When was the last time you brought something in? - Oh, Christ. - Couple of times a week? - Wow. - Right. - And how much is that? - Chuck that amount? - Good weekend?! - Ooh... - Oh my God. - Here. I'll get a card out for ya. (BLEEP) (SNIFFS, GRUNTS) - What weight is that? - Uh... - �35. - So how much would you buy that for? - Do you know what I mean? (LAUGHS) - Like, a lot? - Wow. - Wow. - Adding other white powders to cocaine like lactose, caffeine and animal dewormer allows suppliers and dealers to double their profits. But with the drug in plentiful supply, bulking out is happening less and less. - What country is it you're importing it from? - How many people, do you reckon? - Thousands? - What, actually in the dog food? - 3.4 metric tons of cocaine were seized by the authorities last year ` just 12% of the amount that makes it onto the streets. - Is it getting easier always or is it getting harder? - It's easy? (SIRENS WAIL) - (BLEEP) - The smuggler decides the police in the area are just getting too close for comfort and leaves. - That was crazy. He said there's a lot of police around the area, so obviously he's always on the lookout. - Yeah. - But like he said, he'll just chuck it over the sea and then there's probably no chance of catching him. Just mad. Even just seeing somebody with that amount, it's just crazy. - No, especially when he broke it open and it just went everywhere. - Yeah, he's carrying around 35 grand's worth in his fucking back pocket. What's he got` What's he got coming in on the boat? - Yeah. - Once over the border, cocaine will pass through a network of criminal gangs, each paying more and more for the product. A kilogram of the drug costs around �2000 in Colombia. Once it's broken up and sold to punters on the street, it can fetch up to 100,000. Despite it being an illegal drug, cocaine production is at its highest rate in history. - Because it's so easy to get hold of, you can send a text and you've got someone on your doorstep with cocaine in half an hour, an hour. - I think the reason dealers get into dealing cocaine is the money, the lifestyle, the girls. - It's easy money, and it's a lot of money. (DARK MUSIC) - In London alone, over 280 separate gangs sell cocaine wholesale from undercover locations known as trap houses. - We're going to a trap house somewhere in London. I don't know where. I've been told to put on these blindfolds. - Blindfolds. - All seems a bit dodgy really, but... - A dealer has agreed to be interviewed at his South London trap house. The driver is known and trusted by the gang, but Louis, Amber and the crew must arrive blindfolded so the trap house's location can remain secret. - This is the sort of stuff that makes you a bit edgy, cos obviously you don't know where you are. You don't know what's going on. - Feels very uncomfortable. (DARK MUSIC) - Good, yeah. (EXHALES) (BLEEP), that was a mad experience. Good, man. You? Nice to meet you. - Hi. Amber. Nice to meet you. - T. Nice to meet you. - This anonymous flat is one of potentially hundreds across the country where imported cocaine is weighed out into small quantities of a gram or less. - Do you keep quite a lot of gear here, I suppose? - Yeah, of course. - So do people live here as well? (RINGTONE CHIMES) (UNEASY MUSIC) - A dealer is picking up one gram of cocaine for �50 to be sold on to partygoers just like Louis and Amber for �100. - So you get it to sell on? - Is that every weekend? - Every three days. - Latest figures show 5000 dealers were caught and prosecuted in a year. Many more will be making deliveries every night. - Take it easy, yeah? Bless you. Good luck, fam. Cool. - On an average night, how many would you say you sell, grams wise? (RINGTONE CHIMES) - Hello. - Saturday night, innit? - Do you cut stuff here? - A record influx of cheap cocaine from Colombia means low-level dealers are using less cutting agents to bulk out their product, making cocaine the strongest it's been since records began. - In the chain, how far removed are you from Colombia? - A lot of people out there would say, like, what you do is a really bad thing and that you're bad guys. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think if all of them was like that guy we met then, everybody would get along, but obviously a lot of the street dealers are turning to violence. - And there's a lot more to it than just this guy. - Next, stronger cocaine means addiction is through the roof. - I wish I never took that first hit. - Yeah. - It was very innocent. Don't play with your life. - The last five years have seen a 140% increase in cocaine users being admitted to hospital. - The worst thing about cocaine is the next day. - We were trying to knock ourselves out to sleep, so we thought we'd smoke a spliff, but that just made things 10 times worse. Lesson learnt from that. - I can't say I've ever had a hangover off taking cocaine. - My worst experience on cocaine would be when I myself actually overdosed. Um, it wasn't even that much. Doing it like usual, and my mate asked if he could pinch a line, and I was just like, 'Yeah, I'll rack 'em.' So it was like, 'While I'm here, I might as well rack myself one.' It was basically a massive panic attack, so it wasn't as worse an overdose as you can get, but the doctors said it was to do with the cocaine I was taking. - In the last decade, cocaine has quadrupled in strength. Specialist treatment centres have also seen a 25% rise in first-time addiction admissions. In 2018, over 30,000 users passed through rehab centres. - I don't think personally I would ever be on the path to addiction when it comes to cocaine. If I've not got cocaine on a night out, I'm not gonna not have a good night. - I do kind of worry one day I could become addicted. Like, if my mum and dad died or something really bad happened in my life, I might resort to drugs to solve things. But I'm hoping that that's not gonna happen. - Troi, Amber, Chanel and Louis are on their way to Broadway Lodge, a pioneering rehabilitation centre. - How are you guys feeling about today? - A little bit nervous, you know, but I don't really know what to expect. - Personally I don't see how you can get addicted to cocaine, but obviously I've seen in the past and going to visit people who obviously have been addicted to it. - Since the '70s, Broadway Lodge has helped over 15,000 patients battle addiction. They treat government-funded and private clients. A two-week detox will cost �4000 while a 12-week rehabilitation would cost around �19,000. - So, Marcel, how are you feeling? - Yeah, I'm anxious a little. - (CHUCKLES) I wonder why, guys (?) - Marcel is one of 370 patients this year. He's now completed six weeks of treatment for cocaine addiction. - So, what would be a threat for a relapse? - A party. - Parties, Marcel. - How did you know that (?) - There you go! - MAN: Ladies. - Ladies. Mm. - Yeah. OK, true. - (LAUGHTER) - OK. - Before he came here, 35-year-old Marcel was an account manager for an energy company. - So if you don't mind me asking, where did your story with cocaine start? - Well, I love going out. From my 16th, I was every weekend going to the city. I was 23, and I just thought I wanna try it. And friends around me, they had it, and they gave me a little bit of cocaine. I had a good job, and I had a savings account with about 20,000 euros. - Wow. - Yeah, things were looking good. I bought it for 20 euros, a half a gram. At a certain stage, I needed one gram, so it was 40 or 50 euros. Well, that was in the beginning. No problem. Finally, it was three grams a day, what I did. And that's really killing you physically also. - Yeah, I bet, a few grams a day. - So now I'm 35, sitting here in a rehab centre. I have two friends left of a network of 30. I will never have the social life as I had before. I will not having a drink anymore. - Really? - Yeah, because I've been too far in my addiction. Yeah. - The way I take cocaine is similar to how you started off. Just doing a bit on the weekend with my mates, going to events and stuff. What's your take on that? - Just not do it. I wish I never took that first hit. - Yeah. - It was very innocent. Really think, 'Is it necessary to do it? 'Do I want to take a risk to take my life` to get that life through addiction?' Don't play with your life. - I respect the fact that Marcel is willing to sacrifice things in his life to overcome what cocaine has done to him. The fact that I could lose my friends and have to cut out aspects of my social life like partying and stuff... - Chrissie was once an addict herself, but for the last 20 years, she's been a counsellor, helping others to see the harm drugs can cause. - People talk a lot about rock bottom. Everybody has their own rock bottom. You know, it will be different. So it's` A person comes here when they've had enough. They want to change their life. - So, obviously, me and the rest of the guys admitted openly that we do or have taken cocaine in the past. - Mm-hm. Yeah. - How risky do you think that is, the recreational cocaine side of things? - You know, there's nobody in there in Broadway Lodge at this moment who ever thought they would be an addict and have an addiction. And everybody, I think, starts off socially doing something. But if something's causing you or other people harm, you have a problem. And a lot of the time, if you have that addictive personality, you won't notice that. - I've always said I don't have an addictive personality, but as you've just said, you actually don't know if you've got an addictive personality until you've got it. And at that point, there's no reversing it. - So I guess what you're doing is you're playing Russian roulette with your life. - That's such a, like, mad way of putting it. - (CHUCKLES) - Yeah. That Russian roulette analogy is really sitting with me. Addiction can take hold of anybody, and seeing myself sat there today, you just wouldn't think. Like, he looks so healthy and he's so charming and friendly. And if anybody's having any doubt in their mind as to whether they've maybe got a problem, well, you probably do, or else you wouldn't be thinking that. To me, I don't even see the bloody point in taking cocaine is any more, really. - Will was married with one child and working as a barman. He started using cocaine socially, then took more and more to deal with the late-night shifts, but has since made a full recovery. - Cocaine really was the primary thing for me. Um, I kind of used and abused it for about 18 years. - Every single day? - Every single day. I mean, I've been kicked out of my house by my wife. I had a 1-year-old son who I couldn't see. Um, my family weren't interested in me, so I was pretty much living out of my car. - What was it you was doing, like, on a daily basis? - It started off at around a couple of grams a day. About a week before I came into here, I was three and a half days up and I'd done 25. And at that point` - Wow. - Basically, I'm lucky to be alive. Put it that way. - To actually have the courage to come here and even say you're an addict, it's just a massive thing. Like, looking at you, you just look like a genuine guy. - (CHUCKLES) - You do, honestly, like` - It's hard to believe. There is no kind of stereotype, really. I had it in my head that there was before I came here, to be honest. And you walk in the door and you kind of judge people, but this place teaches you that you should never really do that. It's a disease at the end of the day, and it can affect absolutely anybody. (REFLECTIVE GUITAR MUSIC) - Obviously, it does hit home. Personally I don't think I could find myself in that position where I was addicted, but you never know. Anybody can be addicted in the end. She's been opening up about her relationship with cocaine. - One of the things we talk about a lot here is that the root of my problems with drugs and alcohol is I do what I want to do, when I want to do with it. And if anybody has a problem with it, 'Oh, get (BLEEP).' - Yeah. - Do you want to describe how that made you feel and why? - Just makes you feel a bit selfish, to be honest. - Mm. - Um,... that as much as you think, 'It's my life, I'm going to live it how I please,' you're also like, 'OK, you do need to take some sort of consideration to` to those around you.' I was about 13 when I first tried cocaine. I used to literally just do cocaine in a park or behind my school. Over the years, I've learnt to put blinkers on and block out what's going on around me. - There's that saying ` the truth hurts. - Oh yeah. - And I recognise in that moment, there's a part of me, perhaps, that might be being selfish. - Yeah. Completely agree with you. But then I'm also that person where I don't like to be` I don't like to` I will not judge people, so I don't like to be judged. I've always been a bit of an outcast. I've never really fit in anywhere. Um,... I'd say I was very quiet. Um, I was pushed around a lot. I was bullied a lot. - Did you have a difficult childhood then? - Yeah, where I grew up. It was like only a couple of families that had any ethnic background. So I grew up with a lot of racial abuse and stuff and just a lot of bullying growing up. When you were, like, little and stuff, having people trying to put fags out on you and your sister and stuff and spit at you and that and call you, like` telling you to like (BLEEP) back to Africa and stuff like that, obviously it's not really ideal. - So will you go away for after all of this experience and take a space to reflect on it? - Oh, yeah, of course. Of course. I'm the type of person` I like to self reflect. (PENSIVE MUSIC) Obviously, I've got (BLEEP) to think about. Um... Just taking it in, really. I think I don't have an issue with cocaine at all. Not in the slightest. But it's just that sitting down myself and talking and thinking, 'If you don't... 'actually... 'need it, why the (BLEEP) are you even gonna take it? 'Just for (BLEEP) gigs on the odd occasion? What's the point in that?' - (SNIFFING) - Prolonged cocaine use comes with many risks, one of which is severe damage to the nose. Louis is visiting a specialist nose reconstruction clinic in Amsterdam, where many British patients go after exhausting options available on the National Health Service. - Hi, Louis. Hi. Come in. - Nice to meet you. - Here, surgeon Dr Callum Faris deals with all kinds of nasal problems, including some of Europe's most severe cases of cocaine abuse. - OK. - 26-year-old Louis has over 10,000 followers on Instagram and is a man who looks after his body. He's here to learn how extreme cocaine use can affect one's appearance. - I'd suppose that it does worry me a bit taking cocaine, especially when... in the future, uh, it could damage your` something that I don't know. - Cocaine is a very, very, very intense blood vessel constrictor, so it constricts the blood supply. - Right. - And that starves the cartilage of nutrients, and the intervening cartilage can then die. - Wow. - And you end up developing a hole. And that's what we call a perforation ` a hole from one side of the nasal cavity to the other side. So this is another view of a perforation. You can see that the cocaine has eroded that hole. - God, it's quite a big hole. - Well, we would say that this is actually quite a small perforation. That's probably about 1.5cm to 2cm. But then you can get greater than 3cm. - Small septal perforations can be repaired for �8000 using cartilage grafted from the ear. Larger holes can cause the nose to collapse, requiring three or four operations using rib cartilage and skin grafts, costing up to �30,000. - How often or how long would you have to use cocaine to get some sort of hole? - Chronic use on a regular basis over several, several years, there is a risk of developing a perforation, and that perforation can enlarge. - Chronic cocaine use can also cause saddle nose deformity. This occurs when the nasal septum is too weak to support the middle portion of the nose and it caves in. Dr Faris has produced a model of what Louis' nose could look like if he fell into cocaine addiction. - This is a 3D-printed model. And what you can see here is that the tip is coming up. - Wow. - And when you pressed on the nose, the nose would be totally soft. You'd be able to press it all the way down. - That's crazy. Would you struggle to breathe at this point? - Yes. - Hope it never looks like that. It's just like the shock of it, it can actually get to that stage where your nose has fallen off. - Next, the tragic toll super-strength cocaine is having on families. - Every single day, it hurts. (SNIFFLES) I wouldn't wish this on anyone. - My mum's not that really fussed about me taking coke, to be honest. - My mum, she's been there, she's done it. There's nothing I can do that she hasn't already done. - My parents are completely against me taking it. Anybody taking it. 'No, no, no. Everything's bad for ya.' - My mum's obviously concerned about me taking cocaine and everythin', but I think she prefers that I tell her what I do instead of hiding it. - My mum knows that I've got my head screwed on. She trusts me. - If I was to go downhill, she will put her foot in the door and stop me from doing it. (SOLEMN PIANO MUSIC) - Last year, over 400 families suffered the catastrophic consequences of cocaine use. Amber and Troi are meeting Haley... to hear how super-strength cocaine changed her family's lives forever. - Hello. - Hey. - Hi! - Oh, nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you too. - Nice to meet you. You all right? - Yeah, yeah. Welcome to my little garage. - Oh, it's yours? - Oh, this is yours? Wow. - Yeah, yeah. So, it belonged to my brother. He always had, like, a keen interest in cars. There was always a car in the front garden, you know, like, in bits. - (POLITE LAUGHTER) - I think it was his happy place. Always buzzing. People knew they could go to Ashley. - So what happened to Ashley? - One Sunday morning, he overdosed on cocaine. He popped up here in the morning and` and died. - (BLEEP). (SOLEMN MUSIC) - Like Amber and Troi, Ashley was a casual cocaine user who used to have a few lines with friends on the occasional night out. Over time, he'd take more. In 2016, age 33, he took one line too many and his heart stopped. - You still can't process... that it was the cocaine that killed him, which is crazy. - No one knew how much cocaine Ashley had taken the morning of his death. It's believed the drug had built up in his system over a few days and just a small amount then pushed his blood toxicity to a fatal level. - Nobody dies of it. That's what we all think. - That's definitely what I thought. - And it was a pure overdose. - SOBS: I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Every single day, it hurts. (SNIFFLES) - Ashley also left behind his fiancee, their 5-year-old son, and his fiancee's 12-year-old daughter. Ashley's mum, Jane, still can't believe he's gone. - He loved cars. So that was the first little car he had. - Yeah. He just looks so happy, doesn't he? Look at him here. - Yeah, yeah. - Then here. - A little boy looking after his sister. Yeah, yeah. - That's just so beautiful. - Yeah. Only God can help now, because no human being could ever... (SOBS) can take the pain away. (SNIFFLES) - It's OK. I can't imagine. You just can't imagine and... over something so stupid. - I'm sorry. - It's OK. (PENSIVE MUSIC) - In 20 years, there's been a tragic rise of 1500% in cocaine-related deaths. Hundreds more families torn apart each year. - At the end of all this, after all you've seen and heard, has it made you think twice? - Seeing the heart of the struggles it's put you guys through, the emotion, I don't want my mum to feel the way you guys did. And I think the fact that coke can do so, like, randomly, it's like a lottery. It's definitely put me off. - Yeah. - I hope so, because it is heart wrenching. - I hope so too. (SOLEMN ACOUSTIC MUSIC) - I love my mum. She's probably like the best person I know. She's just got a nice heart and does the right thing every time. She always knows what to say. Yeah, I like my mum. (LAUGHS) It's quite selfish, in a way, with me taking cocaine now, now I've realised this. The fact that cocaine did that to a family... Love you lots. - I love you, too. - (LAUGHS) How much would, like, a gram of cocaine cost? - That would be like �7. - Wow! - One month ago, Amber, Louis, Chanel and Troi were happy to take cocaine without a second thought. - (SNIFFS) - There's probably nothing out there that'll make me change my mind about doing cocaine. - Now they've seen for themselves the harm cocaine can do to the human body. - It actually started to cause her skin to rot. - (ALL GROAN) - In Colombia, they learnt the drug was controlled by murderous cartels. Met the innocent kids the gangs recruit to fight in the cocaine war. - How many children here do you think are going to end up with the gangs? - And felt the pain caused when children kill in the name of cocaine. - When Ivan gave me the dog tags of his friend that died and seeing him break down like that, the fact that that happened because of cocaine, that meant a (BLEEP) lot. - I think what's made me think is seeing the people in recovery. - I've been kicked out of my house by my wife. I had a 1-year-old son who I couldn't see. My family weren't interested in me. - Obviously, these people have never started the drug to end up as an addict. And that being so close to home, who knows where you could end up? - This experience has been life changing. (BLEEP) that people have to go through all this. I think I was very blind to what is actually going on in the world. - The thing that made me think twice about taking cocaine was definitely making it in the jungle. COUGHS: Oh. That was just on a whole 'nother level. - After all they've seen and heard, will they still do drugs for fun with no harm done? - CHUCKLES: I'm not going to continue taking cocaine. No. - At this very point in time, I'm fully off cocaine. Definitely. - It's just not something that I wanna be involved in any more. - It's certainly made me think about what it is that I'm doing and not to be so callous about what it is what I'm doing. - I don't intend on taking cocaine again. But never say never. Obviously, on a night out and` out with the lads and things like that, I don't want to lie to myself if I eventually do do it. Captions by Jake Ebdale. Captions were made with the support of NZ On Air. www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2021