Euphoria on the dance floor vs. hard crime
XTC is known worldwide as the love pill: dancing for nights, connection, and euphoria. But behind that image lies a grim reality of liquidations, extortion, and waste dumping. Sweets shows the inseparable bond between these two worlds. While Brabant crime groups and their pills gained ground worldwide, the Dutch approach to XTC started slowly. For years, production was seen as a regional problem. The Netherlands only intervened when international pressure became unbearable. By that time, the industry had already been professionalized and made invisible.
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Drug lords speak out
In the series, XTC producers talk about the world behind their product: why the south of the Netherlands provided the ideal infrastructure and how billions flowed unhindered for years. Meanwhile, prominent sources from law enforcement speak, including the prosecutor who led the investigation against one of the main players in the documentary.
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The 80s: birth of a phenomenon
Sweets dives deep into the zeitgeist of the 1980s, where the rise of house music and the new drug XTC found a perfect breeding ground. The series features interviews with a well-known DJ from that time, the organizer of illegal rave parties, and one of the doormen from the iconic club RoXY, where it all began. A unique insight that shows how a cultural revolution coincided with the start of an unprecedented drug surge.
Creator and co-producer Jens Olde Kalter: 'As a child, I often went to Brabant at that time and felt that things were different there - rougher, more direct. Later, as a backpacker in Sydney in 1994, I saw that XTC pills dominating the nightlife there simply came from the Netherlands. I wanted to know how that worked. Sweets tells how that global movement began, who made it possible, and why Brabant has been the 'granary' of the international XTC industry for almost forty years.'
The series tells the story from both perspectives: the producers, traders, and transporters who built the industry, and the police, justice, and officials who tried to get a grip on a trade that had long eluded them. Sweets is the second Dutch CANAL+ Original. Starting April 10, a new episode will be released every Friday on the streaming service. The series will also be aired every Friday at 8:30 PM on CANAL+ Action.
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