dramatic music
[Matthew VO] Did you ever imagine that you'd be protesting
a right-wing government in Israel?
No.
This is not something that we can afford to have.
[Matthew VO] Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last year by
partnering with far-right parties.
We will not let anyone
take the democracy away from us!
[Adam VO] People here are concerned about Israel becoming
an autocracy.
It has nothing to do with the court,
it's just fake news.
Does anyone notice a difference between what meth used to be
-and today? -Yeah.
-For sure. -Yeah.
[Paola VO] When it comes to supermeth,
its potency is as much to blame for the crisis as the amount on
the streets.
We're at the heart-attack phase of the methamphetamine crisis.
[Paola] What do those chemicals do to the brain?
We don't know.
[Paola VO] Can the system even handle the amount of people?
dramatic theme music
[shouting]
Hoorah!
[blasts]
[horns and drums]
For months, Israelis have been coming out every Saturday night
here to the streets of Tel Aviv and cities across the country to
protest the new far-right government.
As it gets close to passing major judicial reforms,
the protests are growing in size and intensity.
[cheers]
[Matthew VO] These protestors are outraged by the current
government, and fear that its recent attempts to exert control
over the country's Supreme Court signal a rapid shift towards
authoritarianism.
Why have you come out here to protest today?
We will not let anyone
take the democracy away from us,
because it's written in our blood!
[chanting and singing]
[sirens]
[Matthew VO] After being forced out of office in 2021,
and despite fighting corruption charges,
Benjamin Netanyahu returned to power last year by partnering
with far-right parties, representing ultra-nationalists
and religious fundamentalists.
[Matthew VO] It's considered the most extremist government in
Israel's history, and the judicial reforms it's pursuing
would allow it to push its agenda on the rest of the
country, and could threaten Israel's relationship
with the US.
In Israel, a country with no written constitution,
the Supreme Court plays a pivotal role.
Judges are selected by a committee that reflects the
secular political establishment that has dominated politics in
the country since its creation in 1948.
But the newly-elected government argues the judiciary is forcing
a liberal agenda on the country.
It wants to give elected officials more control over
judge selection and the ability to cancel court rulings with a
simple majority in parliament.
Even right-wing leaders like former prime minister
Ehud Olmert are sounding the alarm.
[Matthew VO] Olmert oversaw two controversial wars,
and was convicted on corruption charges of his own.
But today, he's protesting against the hardcore nationalism
that defined his career.
Did you ever imagine that, one day,
you'd be out in the streets protesting
a right-wing government in Israel?
[Ehud] No.
I never thought that I will demonstrate against
a government policy that is aiming
at changing the fundamental basic principles
of our democracy.
How is this government changing fundamentally the principles of
-democracy? -Trying to, trying.
Here, you are talking about political appointments --
like taking someone from a branch of a party --
and sharing the appointments of Supreme Court justices,
which will break down entirely the significance
of the Supreme Court of Israel and the impact,
particularly in defense of the human rights and civil rights
of the average Israeli citizen.
[Matthew VO] Politicians like Olmert aren't the only
conservative Israelis demonstrating against
Netanyahu's new government.
[Matthew VO] Each week, Einat Halevy Levin celebrates the
Sabbath holiday with her family.
She considers herself firmly on the right of Israeli politics,
but is now leading protests against Netanyahu's government
within the conservative community of Beit Shemesh.
Beit Shemesh is a right-wing and religiously-conservative area.
Why are you choosing to hold a protest in that community?
I'm a religious and orthodox woman.
I come from a very right-wing family,
and still, me and, like, many other people from religious
modern orthodox thinks this is wrong things,
what's going on -- what the government does.
So it's not about right or left.
We believe what's going on now, it's completely against Judaism.
[horns and chanting]
[cheers and applause]
[Matthew VO] Israel's ultra-orthodox community has
grown in recent decades, and represents a significant group
within Netanyahu's governing coalition.
Why have you come out here to protest against these people
across the street?
[Matthew VO] Much of the conflict between Jewish Israelis
today stems from those who want to keep the state Jewish but
mostly secular, and the ultra-orthodox,
who want it to become more religious.
But the Israeli Right is not only made up of the religiously
devout.
Netanyahu's coalition includes extreme nationalists as top
ministers, and members of the Knesset,
Israel's parliament, like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Simcha Rothman,
who want to aggressively expand Israeli settlements in
Palestinian territories that Israel's occupied since 1967.
Ben-Gvir has been convicted of supporting an anti-Palestinian
terrorist group and barred from serving in the military over his
extremist views.
Today, he's Israel's Minister of National Security.
[Matthew VO] They're leading the fastest-growing political
parties in Israel, and see the courts as the key to securing
settlements in the occupied territories.
We're here outside Israel's Knesset in Jerusalem,
where thousands of people are gathering to show their support
for the government.
Since opposition protests started just a few months ago,
this is the biggest protest held by right-wing Israelis.
We are standing-- standing with our government,
our prime minister, and our land --
the land of Israel, by the law of The Bible!
By the law of The Bible!
[Matthew VO] With ultra-nationalists holding the
reins of power, settler violence against Palestinians is at an
all-time high.
After two Israeli settlers were killed by a Palestinian gunman
in February, settlers stormed the Palestinian town of Huwara
on the West Bank, killing one and injuring 100.
In the wake of the violence,
finance minister Bezalel Smotrich suggested that the
government should pick up where the settlers left off.
[Matthew VO] Motaz Al Deek is a Palestinian who's lived his
entire life in Huwara.
He was at his candy shop when he heard his home was under attack.
[Matthew VO] As Israeli politics grow more extreme,
Palestinians fear they will continue to bear the brunt of
the fallout.
Many of the country's top politicians,
including Simcha Rothman, live in Israeli settlements in the
occupied territories.
Rothman is a far-right member of parliament,
and the architect of the coalition's Supreme Court
reforms.
There are many people that feel that the judicial branch of the
government, unchecked and unbalanced,
gives them the feeling of second-class citizens --
that they vote and the vote don't matter.
We cannot accept it in a democracy.
It's about individual rights.
Many Israelis we've spoken to say that they enjoy certain
democratic protections because of the court --
you know, when it comes to minority rights,
LGBTQ rights, women's rights, freedom of speech --
and that your reforms would erode
those democratic protections.
I would say that's a lie.
One of the first laws that the Knesset has passed was to
protect equal treatment of the law to women.
There is no discrimination against women in Israel.
It has nothing to do with the court.
It's just fake news.
You said you want to take this country in a right-wing
-direction... -Of course!
What does that mean, exactly?
I think that what the Left has brought us -- peace-wise,
just peace agreements-wise -- was creating a terrorist state--
a failed state in Gaza
and a terrorist state in Judea and Samaria.
But a lot of people say that what's standing in the way of
peace are settlements in the occupied West Bank--
[Simcha] And--
Settlements like the one that you live in.
What disrupted the peace prior to 1948?
It's more than 100 years that we have it.
To say that the settlements caused it would have serious
questions about what happened before the settlements.
[Matthew VO] For months, the Biden Administration has
unsuccessfully lobbied Netanyahu's coalition to curb
the expansion of settlements in the occupied territories,
and in March, Netanyahu rebuffed Biden for criticizing his
government's judicial reforms.
Hopefully, the Prime Minister will act in a way that he can
try to work out some genuine compromise,
but that remains to be seen.
What should the US government do in response to this new
Israeli government and the political crisis
in this country?
Joe Biden is a great friend of Israel.
So what I expect the President to do is to make a very clear
separation between the state of Israel and the people of Israel
that he will now say he is against the government
of Israel.
Many Israelis see that as the US meddling in this country's
affairs.
America spends every year billions of dollars in order to
support the state of Israel, so who dares accuse America of
offering an opinion about policies which are endangering
American interests just as well?
[Matthew VO] As the US' main ally in the region,
the Biden Administration fears the unrest in Israel could
destabilize the entire Middle East.
But in spite of the international condemnation,
the government is still trying to reach a compromise on the
reforms, with no resolution in sight.
Meanwhile, the extreme Right and ultra-religious remain
emboldened, and the opposition is still continuing to protest.
tense music
[Adam VO] This is not the Israel we want;
this is not the Israel we believe.
So when people say that right now,
Israel's democracy is at risk with this government,
would you say that's a real threat?
[Adam VO] Israel -- for many, many years --
has been a flawed democracy.
But just because you're a flawed democracy doesn't mean it can't
get any worse!
And the people here are concerned about Israel becoming
an autocracy.
[shouting and horns blaring]
[chanting and drums]
tense theme music
tense strings
We're in the state of Sinaloa in Mexico,
and this entire region is tightly controlled by the
Sinaloa cartel.
And right now, we're on our way to see one of the many meth labs
owned by the Sinaloa cartel.
[Paola VO] Workers in this lab are in a 24-hour shift,
racing to meet the demands for methamphetamine on the street,
but like the many meth labs in this region,
they're producing a new, highly-potent,
highly-addictive version known as "supermeth" --
or P2P.
[Paola VO] After crackdowns on meth production in the US
started in the mid-2000s, Mexican drug cartels stepped in
to fill the void.
They introduced P2P and produced it in industrial labs at a
massive scale.
Now, P2P meth has become the most commonly-seized synthetic
drug at border crossings -- more than heroin,
Fentanyl, and cocaine.
And when it makes it to the streets in the US,
it happens to be one of the cheapest drugs you can buy.
tense music
The flood of P2P has followed a growing surge in meth
consumption and addiction plaguing communities across
the US.
In Portland, Oregon, meth has been a problem for years,
but this P2P variation is overwhelming the system in a
different way.
[Officer Baer] 'Sup, bro? How you been?
Hey man, are you good?
[Officer Baer] You're not overdosing?
[Officer Baer] Right on, take care.
[Paola] So we're following the Portland Police Department
officers, and they're patrolling the very same streets that are
flooded with meth that's coming all the way from Mexico.
Meth is everywhere here.
It's cheap.
It's causing really serious mental health effects,
and all of that is a reflection of what this new P2P meth has
the potential of doing.
[Officer Baer] Yo, are you good?
[Officer Baer] Can I get the thumbs up so I know you're
not overdosing?
Are you sure?
All right, man.
Is that Fentanyl or meth?
[Officer Baer] Meth.
-[officer] What's that? -[Officer Baer] Meth.
[Officer Baer VO] When I got hired 12 years ago,
meth was of course a thing, but it seems like every year,
it gets worse.
The quantities that we're seeing are just incredible.
[Officer Baer] Could we chill it out on the knife and the drug
use in public?
[Officer Baer] No more calls today.
[Officer Baer] Okay.
So this is, like, a normal day for you guys?
[Officer Baer] This is actually a slow day.
-This has been really good. -This is a slow day?
[Officer Baer] Yeah.
tense music
[Paola VO] When it comes to P2P,
its potency is driving the crisis as much as the amount
found in the streets.
The police are seeing higher rates of car break-ins,
ER rooms are seeing patients undergoing full-blown
hallucinations, and scientists are seeing the effects P2P has
on the brain.
Eleasa Sokolski is an addiction specialist
at Oregon Health and Science University.
Methamphetamine is known to cause psychosis.
People describe this phenomenon of being locked in their
-heads... -[Paola] Mm.
And having a lot of paranoia and fear.
What exactly does meth do to the brain?
A normal, healthy brain has dopamine transporters.
These are very important for a lot of different functions that
we have.
Even getting up, walking around -- that's all mediated by
dopamine.
So here in the red and the green,
in someone that has been using methamphetamine,
you can see that, all of a sudden,
we're seeing less of those dopamine transporters.
And this image is someone who has stopped using
methamphetamine; this is a month after their last use.
Okay.
That dopamine system is still being significantly affected.
I mean, yeah, it's two completely different images.
Mm-hm, yeah.
We know that the new chemical essence of this form of meth is
P2P.
What do those chemicals do to the brain?
[Dr. Sokolski] We don't know.
We don't have good comparative studies of what methamphetamine
looked like before we started seeing more P2P meth compared to
now, and how that affects mental health.
[Paola VO] While scientists don't yet know why P2P addiction
is so relentless, it has been proven to result in faster,
stronger, and more-enduring addiction rates.
As a result, there's a critical need for more treatment programs
across the country.
Bridges to Change is a peer-assisted recovery center
where former addicts offer support to current patients.
[man] We do groups here at this office,
and then you'll be living at the house,
-where you can... -Cool, okay.
[man] It's like a sober community there,
all the guys are in the program...
[Kevin] Yeah, last time I went to rehab was about a year ago.
I had a psychotic break.
[man] Yeah, I get it.
-Yeah. -[man] Yeah.
I'm glad you're here.
[Paola VO] Kevin is a long-time meth user who's been living out
of his truck for the last six months.
He recently decided to enter treatment for the third time.
When was the first time you tried meth?
It was when I was 18.
My cousin introduced me to it.
How old are you now?
I'm 32 now.
It's been a long time.
[Kevin] Yeah.
I quit for a few years.
I was sober for three years.
When's the last time you used?
[Kevin] Yesterday.
[Paola] Do you know or have you noticed any difference between
the current iteration of meth versus the type of meth that was
on the streets years ago?
-Yeah. -[Paola] Is there a difference?
There's a big difference.
People are going crazy.
You can hallucinate, you see, like,
"shadow people" is what they call 'em.
I was out here one night and, I swear to God,
these two people were fighting 'cause there was, like,
people in every single car out here,
there was people looking through the windows [laughs] and
there was nobody there. [laughs]
-Mm. -[Kevin] It was crazy.
[Paola] So you were basically seeing people watching you,
but nobody was there?
-Yeah. -[Paola] Yeah.
tense music
[Judge Waller VO] Good afternoon.
Dr. Duncan, who you saw, is recommending that it would be
helpful for you to take some antipsychotic medication.
[Paola VO] Judge Nan Waller oversees mental health court in
Multnomah County.
Here, criminal defendants are assessed to see if they're
mentally fit to stand trial, and most aren't.
P2P meth is now straining an already-overloaded judicial
system.
[Judge Waller] Mr. Jackson, do you hear voices?
Mr. Salsito-Sareta, I'm over here.
[woman] He was asleep underneath a blanket wrapped
tightly around him,
his soles littered with feces and shredded paper.
He meets hospital level of care criteria.
I'll sign an order for him to be transported
to the Oregon State Hospital.
[Paola] We saw you yesterday for almost more than four hours;
you're extremely busy.
I believe there's more than 60 people here.
Is that a normal day for you?
That is a normal Tuesday afternoon, yes.
I think a lot of people have no idea what a mental health court
does.
What exactly happens there?
[Judge Waller] Mental Health Court is treatment court.
When somebody has a major mental illness and that major mental
illness interferes with their ability to participate
effectively in their own defense,
at that point, then the goal is to get them the treatment that
they need in order to restore them.
Everyone has a team -- a probation officer,
a clinical case manager, a therapist,
a prescriber, and then most people also have a substance
abuse provider.
So from the majority of the folks we saw,
it seems like the majority were deemed "unfit."
How much of that is due to drugs?
We always try to sort it out, because fitness has to do with
-their mental illness. -[Paola] Right.
Drugs have created -- especially in Portland --
methamphetamine has created a tremendous impact.
One of the things we've heard is that there's a new version of
meth out in the streets, right?
And scientists have gone as far as saying that this type of meth
causes catastrophic damage to the brain.
Is that something that you're able to tell?
I see people who are-- their behavior and their thought
system is so changed.
Unfortunately, getting them into the right level of treatment is
really, really difficult.
Have you noticed an increase in the last couple of years?
Cases have been going up in almost all states,
and I think that probably, you know,
the fact that we have a significant level in many,
many communities of homelessness...
-[Paola] Mm. -It's hard for people.
Can the system even handle the amount of people?
-[Judge Waller] Not right now. -No.
Everyone's trying to do their best,
but we do not have enough.
-Everything has a waiting list. -Mm.
We end up with people waiting in jail longer than--
you know, to get out into a placement.
I mean, I think that was something that was extremely
clear from yesterday, right?
There's not enough resources to help everyone in the system.
Yes, absolutely.
[Paola] And that was evident from the way people spoke,
some people couldn't even get into hospitals,
you had to dismiss some cases.
So what happens to them? Where do they go?
The street.
And, therefore, potentially back to the original problem
-of-- -[Judge Waller] Yes.
Using meth again.
Using meth, not getting treatment for their mental
health.
And that's the vicious cycle?
Yes.
[Paola VO] The consequences for P2P users are rapidly becoming
catastrophic.
Research shows that yearly meth-related death overdoses are
almost four times higher than in 2015,
and women in particular are more at risk for severe abuse
patterns.
At the Mental Health and Addiction Association of Oregon,
we met with a group of former meth addicts in recovery.
Does anyone here notice a difference between what meth
used to be back in the day and today?
-[man] Yeah. -For sure.
Yeah.
Nowadays, they're just mass producing it like it's nothing,
so you don't know what you're gonna get in one part of it that
you're not gonna get in another.
They've started putting chemicals in the drugs that does
something to your brain chemistry that's different than
it was back then.
In my addiction, I was walking down the street talking to
people that wasn't even there, okay?
I mean full-fledged conversations.
I did stupid things because of people telling me what to do
that wasn't there.
How did it affect you?
[woman] My psychosis was pretty severe.
I was hearing lots of voices in my head,
I was seeing things that weren't there.
I spent three years obsessing over our surveillance cameras
that we had around our home.
When I met her, she had a spear and a hatchet,
and literally was like, "Stab the walls,
'cause there's people in the walls."
[woman] I believed it.
With everything, with my whole heart,
I believed what I was seeing was real.
-I still question sometimes. -Me too.
-Like, still. -Sometimes.
Like, "I know some of that shit was real!"
[chuckling] Like, you know what I mean?
Yeah, to this day, I don't know what was real and what wasn't.
I think this group is a reflection of the fact that you
-can recover, right? -Yeah.
[Paola] You can get to the other side.
How did you do it, right?
There's a lot of people that don't believe that this is
possible.
Especially considering what the drug does to your brain,
how did you guys do it?
-Stable housing, support... -Support.
Community...
[man] You gotta have support.
If you just come in by yourself and you're alone and there's
nobody to talk to and-- you're gonna run.
Everybody's gotta start somewhere,
and that's what people need to do is give more people chances.
Yeah.
tense music
[Paola VO] As the meth industry evolves and new compounds like
P2P decimate the streets, meth is still overlooked as a
national problem.
Sharon Meieran is an ER doctor and commissioner
in Multnomah County.
From a national perspective, it seems like the media and the
government is specifically focused on the opioid epidemic.
Yeah.
Should they start refocusing efforts on this meth crisis?
Well, we were starting to finally get a handle on some
of the opioid epidemic, but as it was going down,
suddenly, we're seeing the increase in meth
and the increase in Fentanyl.
Are meth users being prioritized by the system the
way that they should be?
[chuckling] No!
There was a time where we were seeing the old meth go down,
'cause actually, Oregon got on top of it.
And then, there's a little lull, and then we started to see meth
increase and...
different meth, yeah.
It was very different.
Would you say are we in the middle of a meth crisis...
-[Sharon] [laughs] -Or is the system in crisis?
It's both, but we're definitely at the heart-attack phase of the
methamphetamine crisis.
tense music
[drilling]
-[Paola] You look better. -Yeah? [chuckles]
-[Paola] You look good. -Thanks.
[Paola VO] Two weeks after entering recovery,
we met with Kevin at his job just outside Portland.
[Paola] Do you feel better?
[Kevin] I do, yeah.
I'm just getting my life back on track.
[Paola] Are you still clean?
Yeah, I'm still clean.
I live in a sober house and I have a lot of great support
there.
It's a great group of people.
[Paola VO] What's been the most helpful thing so far?
-[Kevin VO] Talking, honestly. -[Paola VO] Talking?
[Kevin VO] Yeah.
People that understand what I'm going through that have been
through it, that support system,
I don't think anybody could do it without it.
[Paola] What do you hope sobriety is going to give you?
Everything I had. [chuckles]
My family, my schooling, my job.
But ultimately, I hope it gives me happiness
and just a little bit of peace of mind.
[Paola] Is there any advice you'd give to someone that's
a meth user right now but that really wants to be
where you're at?
Just don't give up.
It's hard, but nothing that's worthwhile comes easy.
One of the hardest things to face.
It could take over your life.
I don't think it ever goes away for anybody.
You know, they say "Once an addict, always an addict."
It's true.
You take it one day at a time.
moody electronic music