this show might be fake - Drugs, Inc. (2010) Discussion

[–] DeeboCools 9 years ago

Great! I was dying to discuss this, and you already asked the big one. How is this show facilitated? I actually don't doubt many dealers might like to be on TV and Brag(in disguise of course...) but how do they meet these people?

So the production crew rolls up to a new city, cops and users are probably easy enough to track down but how do they get so many "high level" dealers to talk? How do they even meet them and document how careful they are? It just doesn't make sense.

I don't suppose the dealers are all actors, but then again, what's stopping that from being the case when they wouldn't reveal their identities in the first place?

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[–] bbc_asheron 8 years ago

I just watched an episode called "bad boys" where a guy showed his face and wore a camera while he was shooting at some rival. That felt really dumb, too bad about this series because i like it besides the obviously fake *beep*

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[–] hitnwalz 9 years ago

I get the feeling that a lot of this show is staged. The Shower Posse part in the beginning of the Jamaica episode for example. The guys in the back yard were being encouraged to show off for the camera it seemed.
The marijuana episode with the guy who has the massage table. They showed his truck! The one he drives across the country, loaded up w weed. Please....someone who claims to be so cautious and yet carries out his mission in confidence, would probably be smarter than to have his vehicle featured (everything but the plate #) in something like Drugs Inc.
I'm not buying it (no pun).

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[–] CakeMurphy 9 years ago

They showed his truck because it WASN'T HIS TRUCK.
Everything they did was for cinematography and production purposes. Obviously the professional drug mules aren't complete idiots.
I mean, do you really think that he'd continue using the same truck after exposing it?
And for the question about how do producers get in touch with street dealers, well apparently you've never actually bought a bag of weed in your life. They get to the street dealers first, offer them a lot of cash to talk the guy over them. They keep going until they get the last guy that's willing to work with them, much in the same way the police do it, except they are offered some television pay and anonymity.

A little common sense goes a long way.

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[–] jadedviking 8 years ago

Common sense isn't so common these days friend

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[–] kensterz 9 years ago

You might personally not want to go on TV and brag about it, but plenty of other people do

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[–] lockettr 9 years ago

this show must have some pretty deep contacts interviewing the cartels

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[–] Quickblood 9 years ago

I've wondered about the show for a while but watching a recent episode set in jail has somewhat cemented the idea that much of the footage is 'faked' for the show. I don't expect criminals to be smart but to admit on camera your methods for sneaking drugs into jail seems like an incredibly shortsighted thing to do, plus are they really allowed to film crimes in jail?

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[–] crackedvenom 8 years ago

You're already in jail so whats there to care how to get drugs in? Lots of people know lots of different ways.

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[–] matt9969966 8 years ago

You guys all raise good points, and the jail one made me raise an eyebrow as well. What I want to know is how they get away with playing both sides as much as they do. Here are the cops busting folks...oh, and here's an interview with other people they're after. The authorities vs. users dynamic in the jail episode _must_ have had some backstory or agreement in place (either to not bust the people being featured or give them incentives somehow?).

I'd love to see them do a "making of" or behind the scenes episode. It's hard to believe there isn't at least _some_ degree of staging going on.

Edit: And one more thought: usually with reality shows, there's a bunch of information online or in social media about how they're faked or dramatized (Bar Rescue comes to mind). Though, despite the number of seasons this show has been running, it's tough to dig up any dirt of that sort about it. That has to point toward at least some legitimacy of what they're doing (unless they're really good at cleaning up their tracks).

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[–] KingChrome 8 years ago

Most high level dealers are so full of them selves and have had to keep it a secret so long how big they are it's almost like therapy for them to finally get to tell their story of being the biggest dealer around. Narcissism has no bounds.

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[–] KingChrome 8 years ago

Also there is a Vice episode where the guy is in Brazil or Columbia chilling with dealers cutting kilos of coke so you think that is fake too?

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[–] nutmustardxx 8 years ago

So let's say you're a high level or low level dealer ..and you hear the tv crew is looking for people to talk to about drug dealing. Just the fact that a tv crew is going to be talking to you and following you around is like waiving a big flag to the cops saying "follow me I'm a drug dealer." There's no way the dealers coulD be sure the tv guys aren't setting them up for a bust or a notching them off to the cops. And even if they did agree, the dealer, the people the dealers deal with aren't going to be happy that they're on film or even mentioned to tv people or anyone at all who doesnt need to know. I agree...the show has to be fake to some degree.

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[–] sandifay62 7 years ago

First of all. a lot of criminals are stupid and like to brag these days. Secondly, people film a lot of things and cameras are small, so people don't know what people are filming or talking about. If someone asks, they can say they're filming all kinds of other things beside showing people committing crimes.

As far as staged things with reality shows, yes, that exists, but it has to on some level if only to keep the crew and participants safe. The people interviewed have masks on. They know they're going to be filmed and made preparations for it. Just because a scene might be staged doesn't mean the people that are speaking about their lives are lying. This is a highly dangerous world.

Some of the crimes they showed seemed more like dramatizations because if they weren't the crew would be dead.a But the story itself is true enough. You're never going to get anything that's 100% real on TV or in movies. All things filmed have some type of staging and editing going on as well as the filmmaker's point of view;even movie documentaries. To see anything real you literally have to be there. So we just have to watch and decide for ourselves whether it's worth watching or not.

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