Liked Tiger King? Netflix's new docuseries How to Fix a Drug Scandal is your next binge
True crime fans - this is one for you
The world raced through six hours of Tiger King on Netflix, desperate to see the bizarre lives of Joe Exotic and Carole Baskin played out before their eyes.
And as always, the question remained: What should I watch next?
We're here to tell you, your next binge is just around the corner (well, on Netflix still) and it's called How to Fix a Drug Scandal.
It's a documentary set around the lives of two drug lab chemists who commit shocking crimes that cripple a state's judicial system and blur the lines of justice for lawyers, officials, and prison inmates.
Here's everything you need to know about the latest true crime documentary set to take the world by storm.
How to watch How to Fix a Drug Scandal
How to Fix a Drug Scandal is now available on Netflix to watch.
There are four episodes in the series which are around 50 minutes long - so there's lots of action to sink your teeth into.
There's even a trailer below to whet your appetite.
Is How to Fix a Drug Scandal a true story?
Throughout How to Fix a Drug Scandal, we follow the true story of some forensic chemists who falsified reports which eventually led to thousands of people being convicted of drug-related crimes in Massachusetts.
Particularly, Sonja Farak and Annie Dookhan are at the centre of it all. The former was a chemist at the crime lab of the Massachusetts State Police and it was her responsibility to perform analysis on drugs brought in by officers by running them through machines to determine what they were and how they were made. Farak was responsible for sending over 8,000 people to prison, but she was keeping something to herself - she was taking some of the drugs brought in for herself to fuel her addiction.
The most dangerous part of this was that she was replacing the drugs she was taking with an alternative, meaning quite simply, the evidence was tampered with. She was arrested in 2013 and gained 18 months in jail with five years probation.
Just six months previous, Dookhan was arrested for her play in the action. She worked in the Hinton State Laboratory in Boston and was known around the facility as "superwoman" on account of her ability to test 700 drug samples a month in comparison to her colleagues who would only manage 300.
However, she labelled samples as drugs when she hadn't actually tested them and sometimes added drugs to clean samples. While in court, it emerged she testified a cashew nut was cocaine. How to Fix a Drug Scandal suggests Dookhan believed she was a part of the prosecution team.
Bosses were thought to have turned a blind eye on her actions, despite concerns from her colleagues. She was arrested and jailed in 2012 for three years for providing false witness.
Following the pair's prosecutions, it is believed over 36,000 convictions were successfully appealed.
The documentary also examines how prosecutors had tried to downplay the pair's crimes to avoid exposing serious flaws in the judiciary system.
Who made How to Fix a Drug Scandal?
Erin Lee Carr directed the landmark true crime documentary and has previous work within the genre, having been behind the likes of Mommy Dead and Dearest, I Love You, Now Die and Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop.
She recently spoke to WNYC about her experience of Farak's case, telling them: This was the case of a chemist who got addicted to what she was analysing and I thought there was something so poetic and tragic about that."
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Who is in the cast of How to Fix a Drug Scandal?
How to Fix a Drug Scandal is a true story and largely features interviews with those involved in the complex cases.
However, Farak is played by Shannon O'Neill in the series which recreates some scenes.
How to Fix a Drug Scandal is available now on Netflix. If you’re looking for more to watch check out our TV guide.
Authors
Helen Daly is the Associate Editor for Radio Times, overseeing new initiatives and commercial projects for the brand. She was previously Deputy TV Editor at a national publication. She has a BA in English Literature and an MA in Media & Journalism from Newcastle University.
