New OU/BBC series Drugs Map of Britain Series 2 broadcasts on BBC Three from 8 November, and on iPlayer.

Drugs Map of Britain explores the real world of drug users and dealers in the UK today, cutting through the headlines to show the evolving makeup of Britain’s youth drug culture and the impact it has on their lives.

Filmed over several months, each episode explores a different UK location, with dealers, local services, and users at various stages of addiction and recovery. Episodes include Monkey Dust use in the homeless community of Stoke on Trent, Ketamine use in Plymouth, and Nitrous Oxide use in Birmingham. We meet a London based drug dealer who is preparing a £40,000 package for a client, a 16 year old drug dealer from Fife who sells to his school friends, and a Cocaine social media influencer who rates toilets on their ‘sniffability’.

Covering a wide range of topics from mental health to addiction, social media, self-medication and violence, this series explores how widespread the drug use is, why people start to use and who is impacted across the UK.

The series also charts how new legislation will affect local users, covering the changes in the law on Nitrous Oxide use.

Dr Stuart Taylor, FASS Staff Tutor for Social Policy & Criminology, was one of the academic consultants for the series, and he and Dr Anthony Gunter explore the Five Big Questions about drugs and society on OU Connect.