A high school nerd accidentally builds a massive digital drug empire from his bedroom

Entertainment · Published 3 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In the fictional German town of Rinseln, outcast student Moritz Zimmermann attempts to win back his ex-girlfriend by selling ecstasy online. What begins as a small-time scheme quickly spirals into a dangerous, large-scale criminal enterprise, forcing Moritz and his hacker friend to navigate the lethal consequences of their digital ambition.

How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) is a dark humor coming-of-age series created by Philipp Käßbohrer and Matthias Murmann. The show follows Moritz Zimmermann, a high-school nerd who becomes the CEO of MyDrugs. His primary motivation is to impress his ex-girlfriend, Lisa Novak, whose interest in ecstasy serves as the initial catalyst for his illicit business venture. Alongside his best friend and CTO, Lenny Sander—a wheelchair user and skilled hacker—Moritz finds himself managing a rapidly growing drug trafficking operation that frequently threatens to collapse under the weight of his own desire for power and control.

The narrative is framed by Moritz himself, who recounts the events from within prison. The series is inspired by a true story from Leipzig in 2015, involving a man named Maximilian Schmidt who was eventually sentenced to seven years in prison. While the show leans into the absurdity of high-school dynamics, it also explores the darker realities of criminal life, featuring antagonists like the local dealer Jakob 'Buba' Otto and the leader of an Albanian gang, Doro Otto. The tension is further complicated by Moritz’s father, Jens, a police officer who is actively investigating the very drug situation his son is orchestrating.

Spanning four seasons released between 2019 and 2025, the show evolved from a local experiment into a complex drama. The production utilized various locations, including Bonn and Cologne, to ground its fictional setting. Beyond the main series, the universe expanded with a 2022 prequel film titled Buba, which focuses on the titular character’s origins. The show’s unique blend of tech-savvy entrepreneurship and teenage angst has made it a notable entry in the coming-of-age genre, illustrating how quickly a digital project can spiral into a life-altering disaster when morality is sacrificed for status and control.

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