She’s tackled crime stories involving Munchausen syndrome by proxy, a cannibal cop, and dangerous texting. Now, documentarian Erin Lee Carr is taking on a wild story of drug testing gone very, very wrong.
Netflix’s new four-part series How To Fix A Drug Scandal centres on Sonja Farak, a drug chemist at the Amherst crime lab of the Massachusetts State Police. Farak, who, according to a 2018 Rolling Stone article "And Justice For None: Inside Biggest Law Enforcement Scandal in Massachusetts History" suffered from mental health issues since she was a child, became addicted to the drugs she was supposed to be testing in her lab. In an effort to maintain her supply, she tampered with important evidence.
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For law enforcement, Farak’s crimes set off a complicated chain of events. Given the circumstances, could justice really be properly served for the countless people persecuted using corrupted evidence? How the forces who learned of Farak acted in the aftermath will be the focus of the documentary.
“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,” Netflix said in a statement of the project.
This is Carr’s first standalone documentary series with Netflix, having previously directed a 2018 episode of Netflix’s corporate corruption doc series Dirty Money, focused on Valeant Pharmaceuticals predatory drug pricing and the short seller who exposed them.
Carr worked with HBO on the documentaries Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop; Mommy Dead and Dearest, about the murder of Dee Dee Blanchard; I Love You, Now Die, which explores the case of Michelle Carter, a teenager accused of encouraging her boyfriend to die by suicide; and 2019’s At the Heart of Gold, a critical view of the USA Gymnastics sex abuse scandal.
Check out the trailer below:
How To Fix a Drug Scandal hits Netflix on 1st April 2020.