Bad Trips

How I Went from VICE Reporter to International Drug Smuggler

By: Slava Pastuk, Brian Whitney - contributor

Narrated by: Cam Drynan

The true story of a music editor at VICE who tried to become the coolest reporter the company had ever had—by becoming an international drug smuggler.

In 2019, music reporter Slava P, an editor for VICE media, was sentenced to nine years in prison for recruiting friends into a scheme to smuggle cocaine from the U.S. into Australia. Five of them were already in jail. Immediately, Slava P was internationally infamous. Was he a victim of pressure to commit extreme acts for the sake of a good story? A product of a drug-obsessed work environment? Or a manipulator who pushed vulnerable young people into crime?

Here, Slava P tells his side of the story: what exactly happened and how the precarious, dog-eat-dog atmosphere of a media company can lead the young, the naive, and the ambitious into taking crazy risks.

Bad Trips is a story about drugs, hip-hop, influencers, and glamour, set against the backdrop of one of the world’s most influential news and entertainment sites, VICE. Its cast of beautiful young people and semi-famous rappers passes from the seediest apartments to the most elegant of private clubs. Slava P’s chronicling of his years at this famous hotbed of excess is a piercing insight into contemporary media culture.

All royalties from the sale of Bad Trips go to co-author Brian Whitney.

©2022 Slava Pastuk and Brian Whitney (P)2023 Dundurn Press

Critic reviews

Pastuk debuts with a riveting cautionary tale... will strike a nerve with anyone who’s ever considered chasing fame for the sake of fame.―Publishers Weekly

Interesting story

If you like books about people in unique or dangerous / illegal situations than this is worth your time, the catch here is the author was a blogger journalist for Vice and got tangled up in the drug game.

I like books that find people in unique situations and this is definitely that, kept my attention throughout. I wish there was a little more detail and the outcome seemed rushed but still good enough, narration was good never distracting.