With unprecedented access to police work, drug support agencies, detox clinics, custody suites, local NHS health Trusts, drug dealers and a wide range of users, Drugsland looks at the consumption, dealing, treatment and policing of illegal drugs in one major UK city.
Episode one: Crack Alley. Drugsland enters the worlds of the users, abusers and dealers, and follows the lives and work of those tackling the problem on a day-by-day basis in Bristol. These include professionals from Avon and Somerset Police, the Bristol Drugs Project, Bristol City Council, and those who offer support and services to people caught up in the drugs war, both from the private sector and the NHS.
The dark backstreets of Bristol city centre are where dealers and users come together to buy and sell crack cocaine and heroin. It’s a familiar beat for frontline police officers Sergeant Chris Green and PC Ben Spence. The Avon and Somerset Police Neighbourhood Team targets nightly street dealing as well as preventing the out-of-town gangs crossing ‘countylines’.
Part of Sgt Green and PC Spence’s remit is also to protect the vulnerable users who are at risk of 'cuckooing' - a practice in which dealers set up base in the users' homes - as well as working with drugs workers to trial an experimental scheme designed to help users get into recovery, rather than face arrest.
Sgt Green and PC Spence have a known prolific street dealer in their sights. Drugsland goes among the officers as they try to get closer to the main man - but the cards are stacked against them.
Drugsland is a BBC Studios production in partnership with The Open University
Pictured: PC Ben Spence and Sergeant Chris Green
Publicity contact: BR
TBC
