The Best Addiction & Recovery Documentaries

Mind & Psychology - 73 free documentaries about addiction & recovery.

Start with Pissing Blood: The Ketamine Time Bomb (22 min, VICE), then The Most Expensive Rehab in the World (18 min, VICE). All 73 documentaries here are free to watch from their makers' official uploads. To read deeper, the top-rated book on addiction & recovery is In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté.

• Pissing Blood: The Ketamine Time Bomb | High Society (22 min, VICE)
• The Most Expensive Rehab in the World | High Society (18 min, VICE)
• Roid Renaissance: The UK’s Steroid Epidemic | High Society (20 min, VICE)
• Louis Theroux: The Most Extreme Effects Of Alcohol Addiction (59 min, Real Stories)
• Why Does Fentanyl Feel So Good? (15 min, Kurzgesagt)
• Vaping Is Too Good To Be True (14 min, Kurzgesagt)
• We Have To Talk About Weed (15 min, Kurzgesagt)
• Smoking is Awesome (12 min, Kurzgesagt)
• Addiction I Full Documentary I NOVA I PBS (53 min, NOVA PBS Official)
• Smart Drugs: Unlocking Your Brain's Potential - One Pill at a Time (52 min, ENDEVR)
• The Dark Reality of America’s Heroin Epidemic (43 min, VICE)
• The Drug To Master Reality (11 min, Kurzgesagt)
• Southeast Asia's Booming Vaping Industry: Should We Be Worried? | Undercover Asia (47 min, CNA Insider)
• I Relapsed While Helping Other Addicts | Dopesick Nation Episode 10 (43 min, VICE)
• Dopamine Fasting 2.0 - Overcome Addiction & Restore Motivation (10 min, After Skool)
• How to Find Balance in the Age of Indulgence - Dr. Anna Lembke (19 min, After Skool)
• Drugs, Skate & Violence: Filmmaker Harmony Korine | Epicly Later'd (43 min, VICE)
• How Fentanyl Got Into Florida’s Heroin (43 min, VICE)
• Inside Florida's Billion Dollar Rehab Industry | DOPESICK NATION (Episode 1) (43 min, VICE)
• Thai Meth Epidemic and Vomit Rehab (31 min, VICE)
• The Highs And Lows Of Thailand's Cannabis Rush | Undercover Asia (46 min, CNA Insider)
• Love in the Time of Fentanyl (75 min, VICE)
• Kicking a 10 Year Heroin Addiction | DOPESICK NATION (Episode 2) (43 min, VICE)
• The Deadly Synthetic Drug Epidemic Killing New Zealanders (18 min, VICE)
• Overdose Crisis on the US-Canada Border: Steel Town Down (40 min, VICE)
• Australia's Dangerous Epidemic: ICE | Reggie Yates’ Extreme (49 min, Free Documentary)
• The Most Unbelievable Brain Injury Recovery Ever Filmed (52 min, Real Stories)
• The ICE Epidemic: Australia's Fatal Addiction (49 min, Real Stories)
• The Impact of Drug Abuse on Veterans | DOPESICK NATION (Episode 8) (43 min, VICE)
• War On DRUGS or A War On the MIND? (36 min, After Skool)
• Addicted America: How the Richest Nation is Falling to Cheap Drugs (24 min, ENDEVR)
• Eating Ourselves To Death: When Food Becomes an Addiction (45 min, ENDEVR)
• Iced Out: Inside Fentanyl's New Ground Zero (51 min, VICE)
• Risking My Sobriety To Help My Addict Husband | Dopesick Nation Episode 9 (43 min, VICE)
• The Power of Radical Honesty - Dr. Anna Lembke (16 min, After Skool)
• Brain Doping: The Effect of Smart Drugs (52 min, Free Documentary)
• How Traffickers Get Millions of Pills and Tons of Meth Through Thailand | Criminal Planet (43 min, VICE)
• How Drug-Laced Vapes Are Plaguing Malaysia, Singapore And Thailand | Insight (46 min, CNA Insider)
• Khat Power: The Latest War On Drugs (18 min, VICE)
• The Fisherman’s Curse: Malaysia’s Deadly Drug Coast (43 min, Free Documentary)
• Inside The Poison Frog Venom Craze That's The Suburb's Hot New Drug - High Society (32 min, VICE)
• Heroin Crisis & The New Age of Nukes (VICE on HBO: Season 4, Episode 14) (29 min, VICE)
• On the Overdose Frontline | Love in the Time of Fentanyl (76 min, ENDEVR)
• Why Europe is Flooded with Drugs | Lethal Cargo (44 min, ENDEVR)
• The War on Drugs: Is This the World’s Most Dangerous Drug Trade? (83 min, Real Stories)
• Break the Cycle of Addiction - Ram Dass (14 min, After Skool)
• Surviving Addiction: The Deadliest Drug in North America (81 min, Real Stories)
• Smart Drugs: Can One Pill Make Me Smarterer? (52 min, Real Stories)
• Ohio Opioid Crisis: How fentanyl and Heroin Destroy Entire Communities (53 min, ENDEVR)
• Dying for Drugs (78 min, Real Stories)
• The silent heroes of Marseille's drug districts (28 min, DW Documentary)
• Pirates, Drugs & Oil: Inside the Modern Mercenary Industry (103 min, ENDEVR)
• Addicted And Pregnant At The Fringes Of Society (50 min, Real Stories)
• Addicts' Symphony (62 min, Real Stories)
• Why the drug industry has to change (45 min, VPRO Documentary)
• Inside Life-Threatening Rescues & Drug Busts At Sea (43 min, Wonder)
• How Drug-Laced Vapes Are Hooking Teenagers Into Addiction | Vapours Of Death (46 min, CNA Insider)
• The Drug Counsellor Who Was Using Drugs: Now I Use My Pain To Help Others | Extraordinary People (28 min, CNA Insider)
• Too Much Screen Time? Changing To Greyscale Could Help You Quit Your Phone Addiction | Nudge (23 min, CNA Insider)
• Illegal dumping of toxic substances (36 min, VPRO Documentary)
• The Cannabis Trap: Why Youths Are Falling For It | Addicted - Ep 3/3 (46 min, CNA Insider)
• Essex Boys Murders: 3 Fatal Overdoses That Destroyed A Nightclub Drug Empire (45 min, Real Crime)
• The New Drug Crisis: Dupes Designed To Evade Detection | Drugs 2.0 - Part 1/2 (45 min, CNA Insider)
• I Set Up Drug Recovery Centre For The Marginalised: The Day I Stopped Using | Extraordinary People (24 min, CNA Insider)
• From Addiction To Sobriety (78 min, Real Stories)
• Hunt For Synthetic Drug Labs: How New Illicit Drugs Are Traced Across Borders | Drugs 2.0 - Part 2/2 (43 min, CNA Insider)
• Our Spicy Addiction: Discovering New Tastes To Chilli | In Search Of Heat - Part 2/4 (22 min, CNA Insider)
• Man Gets Stopped For Multiple Drug Alerts (23 min, Wonder)
• Catching a Senior Doctor Who Stole Thousands For His Gambling Addiction (43 min, Wonder)
• Young Addicts Face The Dune Of Doom (21 min, Wonder)
• High-Stakes Sniffing: K9 Mounties Tackle Airplane Drug Search (22 min, Wonder)
• Seizing a Cartel Boat Used by Drug Runners (43 min, Wonder)
• Asia's Gambling Problem (25 min, Real Crime)

Top-Rated Books About Addiction & Recovery

1. In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts by Gabor Maté - View on Amazon
2. Dopamine Nation by Anna Lembke (3.8/5) - View on Amazon
3. Chasing the Scream by Johann Hari - View on Amazon
4. Dreamland by Sam Quinones (4/5) - View on Amazon