Original subtitles

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REPORTER (over TV): Meth has made an alarming comeback.

REPORTER (over TV): Cases involving meth have spiked over 1,000%.

REPORTER (over TV): Holding meth is still a major problem.

REPORTER (over TV): Meth is trending up.

REPORTER (over TV): Especially prevalent in middle class neighborhoods.

REPORTER (over TV): More powerful. More plentiful.

REPORTER (over TV): Easy to find and so cheap.

MAN: If you want it, you can get it.

MARIANA: It's being called a "new wave" of crystal meth.

MARIANA: A generation after US government crackdown on

labs and ingredients torpedoed the drug's supply.

Meth is back with a vengeance.

WOMAN: I basically learned how to be a high‐functioning addict.

MAN: We call it Zombieland now,

because everybody's zombied the (bleep) out.

MARIANA: I want to know who's making it,

how it's being trafficked, and why it's become such

a hot commodity again.

OFFICER: Police department! Search warrant.

MARIANA: It's the military.

They're covering their faces, which is never good.

This is a journey to uncover the most prolific meth pipeline

the world has ever seen.

MIKE: The thing about this drug,

she always wins in the end.

♪ ♪

VOICE: 14th floor.

MARIANA: I think it's here.

I can hear somebody talking so.

One of the reasons he picks this hotel is because there are no cameras.

Hi.

MIKE: Hi.

MARIANA: Hi. I'm Mariana. How are you doing?

MIKE: Fan (bleep) tastic.

MARIANA: How many people are you expecting to come tonight?

You have a phone full of messages?

MIKE: Yes, tons of them.

MARIANA: 50 messages? MIKE: Yeah.

MARIANA: And everyone there, they're trying to buy drugs from you?

MIKE: I dabble with a lot of different communities.

The freaks come out at night.

MARIANA: This is Mike, a meth dealer from Austin.

He tells me he's been dealing meth for more than five years.

He doesn't like his clients knowing where he lives.

MIKE: Hi, girl.

MARIANA: So he posts up at a hotel for what he refers to as a cattle call.

So who's coming up now?

MIKE: Mr. Pink.

MARIANA: After some convincing,

Mike allows us to watch as he conducts deals on a very busy Friday night.

MIKE: You want some crystal meth?

MR. PINK: Yes. MIKE: Okay.

Come here. Sit on Santa's lap.

Thank you.

MARIANA: It seems like every deal is interrupted by

another call from another customer.

BUYER: Thank you.

MARIANA: The last time meth was this popular,

Mike was in elementary school.

REPORTER (over TV): It's called crank, crystal or speed.

REPORTER (over TV): Federal officials say

more than 12 million Americans have tried it.

MAN (over TV): And once you get that high,

you just want more, and more, and more.

MARIANA: In the late '90s and early 2000s,

a new type of drug epidemic began playing out on local

news stations across the country.

MAN (over TV): This is the result of a meth lab exploding.

MARIANA: When they weren't killing themselves,

amateur chemists were cooking meth from a toxic mix of

household chemicals and over the counter cold medicine.

It was a DIY phenomenon that produced one of the most

addictive drugs ever seen.

And one of the best TV series ever made.

JESSE: This is art, Mr. White.

WALTER: Actually it's just basic chemistry but thank you, Jesse.

I'm glad it is acceptable.

MARIANA: It was an epidemic that was devastating rural white America.

Perhaps the most lasting images from those days were

put together by a sheriff's deputy in Oregon.

A series of before and after mug shots of users that became

known simply as "the faces of meth."

But as I talk to some of Mike's clients in Austin,

they surprise me.

WOMAN: I try to keep us in my, like,

together appearance.

I don't look like somebody from the faces of meth.

WOMAN: I am.

MARIANA: Not in a million years would I think that you use meth.

MAN: Well, I appreciate that, I think, because

I think there is a certain stigma that we're all like

toothless and eating people when we don't sleep for ten days.

I have an education and I have a job.

MARIANA: You're a lawyer.

MAN: Yes.

G: I sell cars actually.

MARIANA: You are able to function and hold a job?

SPEAKER X: Yes. Yes, for sure.

WOMAN: I was an interior designer in a very affluent part of town.

MARIANA: And you're able to work?

WOMAN: Yeah.

MARIANA: How often do you use meth?

MARIANA: And why do you use it?

SPEAKER X: It's a habit. It's just what I do.

It's not what I wanna do, but it's just what I do.

MARIANA: The demographics of meth users may have changed

but the control the drug asserts over those users has not.

It comes from the power of dopamine.

Meth unleashes a concentrated high to the pleasure sensors of the brain.

And explains why it's so easy for users of any background to

become addicted.

How do you do it?

G: I inject it. Yeah.

MARIANA: Is that a more dangerous way of doing it or

more powerful at least?

G: It's more addictive I would say.

WOMAN: It's not even a decision.

It's like a loop you just can't get off of.

You just reach for it.

I basically learned how to be a high‐functioning addict.

MARIANA: Mike is an addict too.

When he's not dealing, he's often using.

His relationship with meth has been a rollercoaster.

MIKE: I had three houses, two cars and lost it all.

Homeless in the streets for four years.

MARIANA: Have you done time in prison?

MIKE: I have three felonies.

MARIANA: For drugs? MIKE: Possession.

If I catch another one, I'm gone.

It's a life sentence.

I made a promise to my mother that I will be here to take

care of her, and I'm gonna keep that.

MARIANA: Mike and his clients are some of the new faces of meth.

MIKE: Go hit it.

MARIANA: I want to understand why meth is making such a

comeback and where it's all coming from.

DEA COP: All right. Bring it in, guys.

Pull your phones.

So DEA SRT has executed a state search warrant.

Subject 1, extremely lengthy rap sheet.

He's our primary target.

Secondary target has violence in his rap sheet also.

MARIANA: I'm with the special response team of the San Diego DEA

as they're preparing for an early morning raid.

DEA COP: Any questions? Questions? All right.

Get up.

MARIANA: Launched in 2020, Operation Crystal Shield

targets folks like Mike,

traffickers and dealers across the country.

At the peak of the last meth craze in 2006,

the US finally put stringent limits on the sales of cold

medications containing ephedrine,

the key ingredient in production.

The supply chain quickly dried up.

And meth use plummeted.

But the dip was short‐lived.

COP (over radio): DEA SRT just made the northbound turn on Paramount.

MARIANA: Do you still get nervous or is this...

DEA COP: Um, it's good to be a little nervous.

Because if you're not, then you're not safe.

MARIANA: Tonight in San Diego, the DEA is targeting the house

of a suspected meth dealer with prior felonies.

DEA COP: This is it.

COP (over bullhorn): (bleep) Police department.

Search warrant.

42777.

Police department with a search warrant.

Demanding entry pronto

Police department coming in the front door.

Police department. Search warrant.

Demanding entry.

MARIANA: The information they have is that there is

large quantities of drugs including meth.

Also possibly guns and we'll see what they can find out.

COP (over bullhorn): Police department! Search warrant.

Follow the command.

MARIANA: So it's three total, right?

DEA COP: There's three total out and there is at least one more on the inside.

MARIANA: Inside.

DEA COP: Maybe more.

MARIANA: A few hours later, they're ready to show me what they found.

So this is crystal?

DEA COP: Crystal, right.

That's a nice big shard right there.

MARIANA: It is.

Are you guys finding a difference in the quality of the meth?

Is it more powerful now?

DEA AGENT: It is.

Most of the meth that we seized has over 90% purity.

MARIANA: Wow.

DEA AGENT: Which is a lot different than what it was 15, 20 years ago.

MARIANA: And if you were to guess where this is coming

from, where did bag come from?

DEA COP: Oh, uh, from Mexico.

Absolutely. And it's just right here.

DEA AGENT: Last year, over 50,000 kilos of meth was seized

in California on the southwest border.

It's increasing every year.

MARIANA: I've never worked with this guy before and he

just wants to make sure that we are in fact journalists.

To understand the origins of this wave of Mexican meth,

I need to go meet its new suppliers.

What's up?

MARIANA: Okay. Okay. You guys stay in the car.

I've reported from Sinaloa many times before.

Hola! Estoy bien, como estas? Soy Mariana.

I know this drill well.

MARIANA: No one introduces themselves as cartel members,

but I know exactly who I'm dealing with.

The Sinaloa cartel runs the most ruthless

narco‐trafficking operation on the planet.

They'll do just about anything to defend their smuggling routes.

Their violent reputation hides another truth.

The cartel knows how to spot a business opportunity.

US authorities may have torpedoed the domestic supply of meth,

during its last heyday in the 2000s.

But they did little to stem the demand.

That opened the door for organizations like the Sinaloa cartel.

I don't know if you went to the right or left.

MIGUEL (over radio): Right.

MARIANA: Got it. So we're entering cartel territory here, right?

MIGUEL (over radio): Yes.

MARIANA: So we're following this guy who we've been told

he's a lieutenant for the cartel,

sort of a boss in the cartel.

He's taking us to, what they call a super meth lab around here.

We're trying to keep up with him because he's in, in a hurry.

He says we have to get there fast.

If we get there.

This is it, guys. We're here.

There's just a bunch of masked men waiting for us.

MARIANA: This is it, guys. We're here.

After driving two hours deeper into the Sierra Madre mountains,

we arrive at a very remote location.

MARIANA: Okay. We can go guys.

Okay. Gracias.

Their walkie‐talkies are really loud.

MARIANA: Yeah.

So they knew essentially since we entered the Sierra Madre,

this area here, that we were here,

that without permission there's no way we would've even gotten this close.

MARIANA: Oh, wow, so you see these pipes?

This is water pipes they say for the lab.

Can you see how they are trying to hide them with grass here?

Oh, my God.

This is it. Wow.

This is much bigger than I thought it was gonna be.

After a long hike, we arrive at a massive meth production

site, what the Sinaloa cartel calls a super lab.

MARIANA: Hola.

MARIANA: Lead.

MARIANA: Galleta, which is what they call cookie,

is a mix of other chemicals.

(speaking Spanish).

MARIANA: Cyanide, lime, alcohol.

And then they put the fire on, it starts heating.

The smell is so strong.

MARIANA: Make no mistake about it,

the booming popularity of meth in the US goes hand‐in‐hand

with the boom in production here.

Labs like this are cooking meth on an industrial scale.

A generation ago, American‐made meth

was only about 60% pure.

The cartels have increased the purity to above 90%.

It's just showing you the accuracy.

This is what, the level that they want.

And it's spot‐on.

And yet cooking the drug is still as crude and dangerous as ever.

So you can see just how rudimentary this all is.

The fire coming underneath here,

there's a really strong smell of gas.

There's a thing going round and round and this is all made by hand and

you just have the feeling that this can go wrong really fast.

HOMBRE: No. MARIANA: Wow.

MARIANA: Okay.

So instead of having to buy and wait for the precursor chemicals to come from China,

they're actually making it all right here.

It's finally happening.

The cartels' drug producers are becoming self‐reliant.

Only two years ago, I was off the coast of Mazatlan watching

cartel members fish barrels of Chinese‐made chemicals out of the water.

Now, they are free of Asian suppliers and shipping

timelines and making the chemicals themselves.

That means more meth at a faster rate.

So this is the final step in the whole process.

So this is the crystal that forms crystal meth.

So they're, it's starting to boil and the crystal is

starting to form at the top.

MARIANA: I want to understand how meth produced in the

super lab makes it to America, so I reach out to my cartel

contact to see the next link in the supply chain.

It's the military.

But on the way out of the area,

our cars are surrounded.

There's another one coming.

They're covering their faces, which is never good.

MARIANA: I'm in Sinaloa tracking the supply chain of

America's latest drug wave.

We just left a crew of well‐armed,

masked men cooking insane amounts of crystal meth.

When our cars are surrounded by a different crew of

well‐armed, masked men.

It's the military.

The Mexican military.

There's another one coming.

They're covering their faces, which is never good.

They blocked us behind us and in front of us, trucks.

We just never know what exactly their goal is,

why all this intimidation.

MARIANA: As the military swarms us,

they refuse to give us a specific reason as to

why we're being detained.

They're saying they want us out of the car,

they wanna take photos of us and do an investigation.

MARIANA: They wanna check the car, guys.

We were essentially surrounded by military.

They're searching our cars right now.

Definitely not a pleasant experience because they're

coming up at us with guns and they're asking us all sorts of questions,

asking why we are there, what we're filming.

MARIANA: Ah, okay, so they're telling us not to film,

we have to put cameras down, guys.

As they search our vehicles, a senior officer demands that

our local producer explain where we've been and

where we're going.

MARIANA: Ultimately, they find no reason to keep us and they let us go.

I mean, that was not a good situation to be in.

That is a lot of armed men.

But, you know, corruption is rife in Mexico.

So you never know who exactly they're working for,

if it's the government or the cartel themselves.

In Mexico, it's hard to know where allegiances lie.

The billions of dollars cartels make running drugs to

the US have perverted the rule of law,

corrupting government and law enforcement at nearly every level.

We were allowed to continue our journey north,

but it was a good reminder to never let our guard down.

Okay. So we're still in narco territory.

And we're heading to a stash house where they say that they

have crystal meth that has been packed up or they're

packing it up right now.

I'm unsure but that's going to be shipped to the US tomorrow.

The problem is it's getting night here,

which is never when you want to be in this part of the world.

MIGUEL (over radio): It's here to the left.

MARIANA: Here it is. We're here.

(speaking Spanish).

MARIANA: Ah, okay.

(speaking Spanish).

MARIANA: Oh, my God.

Holy (bleep) I cannot believe it.

Wow.

So all this is crystal meth that came from the lab.

MARIANA: He's showing, okay.

So imagine this is fertilizer, these are the drugs.

They just cover it all with real fertilizer.

So if you're searching the car,

you're not gonna search each individual piece.

So they have these four bags and they have more bags inside.

(speaking Spanish).

MARIANA: "Come and see this," he's saying.

MARIANA: So it's hidden in the bathroom I guess.

Here it is one, two, three, four more.

MARIANA: And they just throw it in the truck like this, he's saying.

Just easily, you don't even have to try to hide it very much.

MARIANA: Half a ton of drugs.

Let's just do the math on that.

My sources tell me that one pound of meth in Mexico goes for $200.

But that price jumps to $650 once it crosses the border.

And up to 1,500 per pound once it reaches a big city like Los Angeles.

So if they're moving half a metric ton to LA

every week, roughly 1,100 pounds,

They're making more than $1.4 million

in profit every shipment.

I don't think I've ever seen just the enormous amount of

drugs that were there tonight.

And they don't even try to hide it.

Handing over the drugs to us and we're all talking openly about it.

And then to find out that half a ton of meth is

shipped out of here, that is insane.

America's latest wave of crystal meth is big business

in cartel land.

Still, I want to understand how the Sinaloa cartel is

moving so much ice across the highly‐secured US border each week,

and how American dealers like Mike get their hands on that supply.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Hey, any news?

ROGER (over phone): We got information that we're gonna be meeting a biker,

he's smuggling drugs across the border.

He's crossing now so we got to hurry up.

MARIANA: Okay. Any other rules?

Anything we need to know about beforehand?

ROGER (over phone): Well, they're gonna tell us where they want to meet.

It is for their security and for ours.

MARIANA: Okay, bye.

So it looks like it's on.

I'm in the border town of Calexico to see how

Mexican cartels smuggle meth into the biggest illegal drug market in the world,

the United States of America.

We're here.

MARIANA: Okay.

There's not much to it, we just wait now.

MIGUEL (over phone): Hey, Mariana, the biker should arrive to your

spot any minute now.

MARIANA: Okay. So he's coming right to our car?

MIGUEL (over phone): Yes.

MARIANA: The trafficker tells me to call him Ricardo.

He's an American citizen from East LA.

MARIANA: Crystal meth.

MARIANA: That's crystal meth? Ice?

The drugs are wrapped with duct tape and plastic.

They're called huevos or eggs,

and each one is packed tightly with crystal meth.

MARIANA: Two pounds.

Turns out there are 12 huevos hidden throughout the bike.

Totaling 24 pounds of meth, a street value of $36,000 in Los Angeles.

MARIANA: Ricardo is one of thousands in a decentralized

network of freelance smugglers utilized by the cartel.

It's an army of ants who avoid seizures by funneling smaller

packages of meth in cars and motorcycles,

maximizing efficiency and minimizing risk with drivers

who have less direct ties to the cartels themselves.

MARIANA: Just like that, we are interrupted by Ricardo's

boss who needs him to proceed with his route.

His boss is calling.

MARIANA: Okay. He really has to go.

MARIANA: This meth pipeline is part of a drug trafficking

empire that brings in an estimated $30 billion in

revenue a year.

That's more than Fortune 500 companies like Visa or Starbucks.

And like any good business, the cartels are never satisfied.

That's how I find myself parked on an LA street

awaiting a sketchy meet‐up with a cartel operative

working on a new initiative.

Hey guys, can you hear me?

ROGER (over radio): Loud and clear.

MARIANA: Are these the people we've met before?

MARIANA: Do you trust these people?

MARIANA: Oh. That's, they actually said that?

MARIANA: Okay. So no, absolutely no filming on the way to the location,

wherever that location is.

MARIANA: Okay. You guys heard that?

Okay. I think this is it.

So we're parking about two blocks from the actual location.

And they've asked us to park away.

And also, they told us to bring all the gas masks

because apparently it's super toxic.

Okay? Let's do this.

MARIANA: Raking in billions a year,

the cartels have seen their meth profits soar thanks to

their endless pursuit of cheaper and quicker ways to

reach American users.

I walk a few blocks to meet a new cartel contact who calls himself Pablo.

Hey.

PABLO: Hello.

MARIANA: And I honestly have no idea what to expect.

PABLO: Please put your mask on.

I did already and the smell of chemical is really bad and

it's really strong.

All the chemicals that we're using are very, very dangerous.

You gotta be careful what you touch?

PABLO: Yes, I was cooking.

I have something here, but I don't wanna touch it 'cause

it's still cooking.

This is what you call a "Shake and Bake."

'Cause in case, "Police is coming," shake it.

We gone, do another one.

PABLO: I go directly to my boss in Sinaloa cartel.

PABLO: He gives me the orders.

That's why you guys got the okay and the access to come here.

MARIANA: That's right.

According to Pablo, the same Shake and Bake labs,

that once dotted the American landscape are making a comeback.

But this time they are funded and run by Mexican cartels.

PABLO: We got the gas, we got the battery acid.

PABLO: We have the liquid Sudafed because we crush up the pills

MARIANA: Pablo tells me that while getting Sudafed is hard,

the cartel has channels to source ingredients from

pharmaceutical companies.

PABLO: Let's say that they were doing 60 pills.

MARIANA: Uh‐hmm.

PABLO: So I'm using 500 pills, the more pills we crush up,

the more stronger it is.

PABLO: Yes, they are.

PABLO: Exactly.

MARIANA: Pablo explains that the cartel is experimenting

with this direct to consumer model which lowers production costs,

eliminates the risk and cost of transport,

and cuts out mules and middlemen.

PABLO: We're in the middle of the city

PABLO: We have five that are getting built right now as we speak.

PABLO: And around the corner, they already have at least eight.

PABLO: Yes.

MARIANA: Profits are already soaring.

Just from the network of labs run by Pablo in LA,

he tells me he's making $12 million every year for his

bosses in Sinaloa.

PABLO: We call it Zombieland now,

because everybody's zombied the (bleep) out now,

they're using crystal meth.

PABLO: Yes, it does bother me, but like I gotta live one way or another.

I grew up in this (bleep) I come from Sinaloa,

this is all I know and, you know, this is hard.

MARIANA: As the cartels' producers in Mexico and within

the US pump out more and purer crystal meth,

their strategy to hook more users is working.

REPORTER (over TV): 328 people died by overdosing on drugs her in Arizona last year.

REPORTER (over TV): Methamphetamine is back on the rise in Ohio.

REPORTER (over TV): More people are now dying from meth overdoses

than heroin across Colorado.

REPORTER (over TV): Right here on the streets of San Francisco

REPORTER (over TV): Omaha is caught in the crosshairs.

REPORTER (over TV): On the rise in San Diego.

REPORTER (over TV): That means more customers for the cartels.

MARIANA: The US is now home to an estimated one million meth addicts.

An epidemic that's killing thousands of people a year.

I wonder how Mike, the dealer I met in Austin,

feels about his role in such a deadly epidemic.

So I reach back out.

And I ask if he's still planning to come to LA for business.

MIKE: So as if my life couldn't get any more crazier,

it was just a (bleep) show today.

MARIANA: His reply is the first in a series of nearly

incoherent video texts.

MIKE: There's someone always watching you.

At every time, every minute, every day,

every hour, every hour, every week, every week,

every month, every month,

every year, every year for the rest of your life.

MARIANA: I ask where he is, but it's not totally clear

from his next text.

MIKE: Here I am still with no ID,

wondering how am I gonna make (bleep) happen in.

MARIANA: Mike tells me he's on his way to meet me but then I get this.

MIKE: I'm literally, literally, literally on my last dime.

So now, what to do?

MARIANA: It's like I'm watching him unravel.

MARIANA: Finally, he tells me he's in San Diego and then

the line suddenly goes dark.

What I thought was simply the last link in the meth supply chain,

a street‐level dealer, is actually a window into

the raging epidemic itself.

Mike's disappearance is evidence of the very dark places

where meth addiction leads,

reminding me of something one of his clients told me back in Austin.

WOMAN: I've been really lucky in a lot of ways,

I've never been arrested, I've never stolen anything from anybody,

I haven't had to sell my body.

I've, all these things that I've seen a lot of really

smart and really good people do just because that's what

this drug pushes you to do.

It is not easy.

And mom guilt is very real.

And pressure is very real there.

I mean, that's just what also comes with meth, right?

Guilt and shame and pressure.

Uh‐hmm.

MARIANA: Three days later, I get a message that Mike has made it to LA.

He wants to meet at his motel.

I have a hunch things are about to get messy.

MIKE: Can we cut real quick?

I'm just starting to, like, hyperventilate.

Hmm.

♪ ♪

MARIANA: Okay. So Mike, what are we doing here?

MIKE: We are actually fulfilling orders that were

sent to me through my clientele.

MARIANA: After several days of radio silence,

Mike resurfaces in Los Angeles and invites me to his motel room.

MARIANA: He seems scattered from the start.

MIKE: Yeah. I am.

I get really all (bleep) nerve and so I need something to

kinda calm me down.

It's like I gotta be high on something every day.

MARIANA: After taking the edge off,

Mike agrees to show me how he ships the meth he buys

wholesale in Calexico to clients across the country.

You're gonna put the drugs inside lunchboxes?

MIKE: Yes.

So in the case at which they get X‐rayed,

it's gonna be harder to see what's inside.

And because of this, it sounds like a puzzle.

MARIANA: It seems the sheer availability of pure Mexican

meth has been a huge part of the drug's resurgence.

It's a cheap high and for a country with a massive

addiction problem, that's irresistible in spite of

meth's ugly reputation.

MIKE: It's more of a taboo because of the stigma behind it.

MARIANA: So why did you let us come with you?

MIKE: Just because it's not what people think it is.

Some of the greatest people that I know use it.

Some of the most smartest people that I know use it.

If you look at the community as a whole,

there's a lot of people that use it in different ways.

Can we cut real quick?

MARIANA: Yeah.

MIKE: I'm just starting to, like, hyperventilate.

MARIANA: Do you want water?

It's a profitable business, but not an easy one for a

hardcore user like Mike and the more time I spend with him,

the more I witness the messy reality of his addiction.

MIKE: Yeah, I'm a hot mess and it's,

yeah, it's not getting easier.

And I think it's just from the long‐term uses of it.

(phone vibrating).

MARIANA: You're getting a call from your mom.

MIKE: It's okay.

MARIANA: You're not answering?

MIKE: She wants answers to things that I don't have the

answers to right now, so.

MARIANA: Does she know where you are?

MIKE: Yeah.

MARIANA: Does she what you're doing?

MIKE: Yeah.

She doesn't like it and neither does the rest of my family.

You know, they're worried about me because it's not

about the drug usage, but it's more about if anything happens to me.

MARIANA: How scared are you of going to prison?

MIKE: It's on my mind every day.

Considering how I have three felonies,

if anything happens to these packages,

it's bye‐bye, Birdie.

MARIANA: I ask Mike about his first experience with meth.

He points to a lunchbox that's headed to Key West.

MIKE: He's the one that got me involved in all of this to begin with.

He's my ex‐boyfriend.

He's the one that tried to keep me away from it and I

just came running towards it.

He warned me, he really did.

MARIANA: Does he use it as well?

MIKE: Yeah, he does.

MARIANA: Is he addicted to meth as well?

MIKE: Well, I would assume so.

MARIANA: Mike tells me that like a lot of users,

his experience with meth is tied to a hard‐partying social scene.

In fact, that's why he loves coming to Los Angeles.

That night, Mike heads to West Hollywood,

the epicenter of gay life in Los Angeles and fertile

grounds for new clients.

How do you sell?

Do you go out and look for clients?

MIKE: One of the biggest ways I've made my money was through

social media, in the gay community,

it's been like Grindr, Scruff, Adam4Adam, BBRT.

These are all avenues for men to meet other men in and hook up.

And that's where I come in.

MARIANA: Mike can go to any city in the country and within

minutes find customers.

For gay men looking to hook up and get high,

these apps give dealers like Mike an edge.

And it's in these gay communities where Mike's

personal and business interests converge.

Lot of people though.

Wow.

MIKE: Yeah, this is all within a mile radius.

MARIANA: Are you getting requests right now?

MIKE: Yeah. I got people at the hotel waiting for me.

MARIANA: Waiting for you to sell them meth?

For you to have sex?

MIKE: No, no, no. Maybe both, who knows.

That's all I do all day.

I try to have fun on the side and then get back to work.

Now, there's a secret language online.

There's a chance that this guy could smoke because of the T.

It's capital

MARIANA: And so T stands for Tina?

MIKE: So, yes, but there's a lot of things that stand for Tina.

Anything like a teacup or time for tea,

which would be a clock, a little teacup,

and then you also do diamonds.

And there's party and play.

MARIANA: Which means what?

MIKE: They want to smoke meth and have sex.

MARIANA: Mike tells me sex on meth is almost better than the drug itself.

MIKE: For a lot of people, it makes them ferociously horny

and then it becomes that sex is always gonna be associated

with a certain substance.

80% of all my clientele are either before they're PnP, or during.

When I was on here the other night,

every freaking guy that hit me up are like,

"Are you partying? Partying? Partying? Partying?"

I can't even leave a city block without being bombarded

by either requests or people that want PnP.

MARIANA: I've never seen a drug epidemic through the

lens of a dating app.

But there it is, the new faces of meth courtesy of a

seemingly endless stream of online profiles looking to party.

Why do you think meth is so prevalent in the gay community?

MIKE: It's larger in the gay community, yes it is,

but it doesn't symbol the gay community as a whole.

It's one niche in the gay community,

and if you want to see it, log on from 2:00 to 6:00 in the morning.

MARIANA: Right.

MIKE: Uh, would you excuse me.

My cognitivity is starting to go out the window.

I'll start with one subject and I'll nod out real quick

and start a whole completely different one.

It's because my brain is starting to just spark.

It's getting tired and it's gonna shut down.

(phone vibrating).

MARIANA: It's your mom again.

You have to call her at some point.

MIKE: Yeah.

Hola guapas.

I'm still working right now.

MOTHER (over phone): Did you find out anything?

MIKE: I'll be home tomorrow.

MOTHER (over phone): You don't even have your plane ticket.

How can you tell me that?

MIKE: Um, I don't know.

Um...

MOTHER (over phone): I don't want you to tell me something that's not gonna happen.

MIKE: Okay.

I love you, I gotta go mom, I'm on, I'm, I gotta go.

MOTHER (over phone): You need to tell me.

MIKE: I don't know, Mom.

Please.

MOTHER (over phone): You always say, "Mom, please," but you never get back with me.

MIKE: Mom, please? I will talk to you.

MOTHER (over phone): When?

MIKE: Mom, I need to get off the phone.

MOTHER (over phone): Okay. Love you. Bye.

MARIANA: Aw.

She's so worried about you.

MIKE: Yeah. I'm tired.

I am completely and utterly exhausted.

I am leaving this car now.

MARIANA: Stay safe. Call your mom back.

Bye, Mike.

It's sad.

It's sad especially to see his mom calling him, you know so worried about him

and wondering when he's gonna go back home.

And she knows full well what he's doing here too.

So as a mother myself, that really,

that moment really got to me.

He says he wants to quit.

He says that in a few months, that's his plan.

But as he knows full well himself,

it's a really hard drug to quit.

He's tried it a few times and he hasn't been successful at it,

but we'll see what happens this time.

The current meth epidemic is many things to many people.

For a handful of cartel bosses,

it's a windfall.

For thousands of people who depend on the meth pipeline to

make their living, it's a paycheck.

And for millions of addicts and their families, it's a curse.

MOTHER: What are you gonna be cooking?

MIKE: Macaroni.

MARIANA: A few weeks later back in Austin,

Mike is cooking dinner with his mom.

MOTHER: Where are your potholders?

Oh, there's your colander too.

We're gonna need it.

MARIANA: But she's worried about him.

And the conversation quickly turns serious.

MOTHER: Do you believe you have a serious addiction?

MIKE: Who doesn't have an addiction?

Who doesn't have an addiction to something?

Mine just seems to be with crystal meth and...

a lot of other things.

MOTHER: The money?

MIKE: The money, the interaction.

MOTHER: You know, have you ever thought to yourself,

"Am I hurting people out there"?

MIKE: I don't have a gun to their head.

I'm not selling to anyone that hasn't previously used.

MARIANA: In my experience, dealers and users always find

a way to justify what they are doing.

And all too often, it's mom who pays the price.

MOTHER: I still have hope, one day you're gonna put this behind you.

I have hope.

MIKE: I am, Mom, I can't tell you the future because it's not written yet.

MOTHER: No, exactly. No, no.

I'm not asking you to tell me your future.

MIKE: I don't know.

My goal is just to live longer than you.

MOTHER: Are you waiting on someone?

MIKE: Yeah.

I'm just gonna step out for a second.

I have to meet my buddy outside.

Captioned by Cotter Media Group.