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.

• The well-publicized story of the VICE music reporter who was caught smuggling cocaine, written by the man himself, uncovering the culture at VICE magazine that led to drug smuggling ring
• Slava Pastuk is currently incarcerated for conspiring to import drugs from U.S. to Australia; he is expected to be on parole when the book is released
• A very honest, open account of drug smuggling and the conditions working for VICE; for example, the office always had an open drinks bar and cases of beer were free for the taking, drug-use was widespread, and reporters were encouraged to go over-the-top for their stories
• A story about the age of the hipster: without morals, politics, to the point of nihilism
• Similar to confessional true crime stories, such as the bestseller Mr. Nice by Howard Marks
• All royalties from the book go to co-author Brian Whitney, who is a popular true-crime writer