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Netflix's New True Crime Documentary On One Woman's Drug Addiction Looks Wild

Mary-Jane Wiltsher

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Netflix's New True Crime Documentary On One Woman's Drug Addiction Looks Wild

Featured Image Credit: Netflix

On the hunt for your next true crime documentary binge?

Look no further than Netflix's How To Fix A Drug Scandal, which cracks open one of the biggest justice scandals in the Massachusetts legal system.

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The new four-part series charts the case of Sonja Farak, a drug chemist at the Amherst crime lab of the Massachusetts State Police.

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In 2013, it came to light that Farak - who had suffered from mental health issues since she was a child - had become addicted to the drugs that she was supposed to be testing.

Smoking and sampling drugs including liquid meth, Farak kept her habit under wraps by tampering with crucial evidence and faking results.

"I was smoking at the lab, smoking at home," says Farak in the trailer. "I actually smoked in the evidence room. I was totally controlled by my addiction."

The new four-part series charts the case of Sonja Farak, a drug chemist at the Amherst crime lab of the Massachusetts State Police. (Credit: Netflix)
The new four-part series charts the case of Sonja Farak, a drug chemist at the Amherst crime lab of the Massachusetts State Police. (Credit: Netflix)
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The extent of Farak's abuse of the system meant that multiple law suits were implicated, with guilty people walking free and defendants brought to trial using corrupted evidence.

How To Fix A Drug Scandal traces the "ripple effect" caused by Farak's actions and examines the state police force's response.

Along the way, the documentary explores the parallel case of Annie Dookhan, another drug chemist at Massachusetts Department of Public Health, who was abusing her position by falsifying evidence.

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Both Dookhan and Farak cost the state millions in payouts as thousands of criminal convictions were overturned.

Both Dookhan and Farak cost the state millions in payouts as thousands of criminal convictions were overturned. (Credit: Netlix)
Both Dookhan and Farak cost the state millions in payouts as thousands of criminal convictions were overturned. (Credit: Netlix)

In a statement about the documentary, Netflix said: "Did anyone know what had been going on? And when did they find out? The scope of Farak's addiction - and the number of people convicted as a result of her drug-testing - comes to light, despite repeated efforts to suppress evidence in the case."

Documentarian Erin Lee Carr - the woman helming the project - has previously worked on HBO documentaries like At the Heart of Gold which examined the USA gymnastics sex abuse scandal and Mommy Dead and Dearest, about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard.

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Carr also directed an episode of Netflix's docuseries Dirty Money, exploring Valeant Pharmaceuticals' "predatory" drug pricing.

This is Carr's first standalone documentary for Netflix - and it's not to be missed.

How To Fix A Drug Scandal airs on Netflix on 1st April 2020.

Topics: True Crime, TV News, TV Entertainment, Documentary, Netflix

Mary-Jane Wiltsher
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