Louis Theroux's latest documentary will be out early next month and it sounds like it's going to be heartbreaking.
The iconic filmmaker has three new documentaries airing on the BBC this year in a series called Dark States, with the first airing on Sunday 8 October at 9pm.
Titled Heroin Town, the hour-long programme will follow in the footsteps of his previous documentaries on drug use and addiction, examining America's relationship with prescription painkillers.
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A further two episodes, called Milwaukee and Sex Trafficking Houston will follow, which take on the 'uniquely devastating challenges' currently facing America.
The trailer has dropped for the series, and yet again it looks like Theroux will have us all talking.
Credit: BBC Two
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In the trailer, the filmmaker speaks to various American addicts, one of which reveals she's been using since she was 12, and another who admits he's stolen from his own kids to get high.
A woman can be heard saying: "I don't think people have a great deal of respect for life anymore," referencing the increase in use of heroin and other cheap opiates, which is making life expectancy in America decline.
The BBC describes Heroin Town as follows: "America's love affair with prescription painkillers has led to widespread dependency on opiates. But following a crackdown on their over-prescription, where does this leave the two million Americans who have developed a habit for these high-strength painkillers?
"With the pills now becoming increasingly expensive and scarce on the black market, vast numbers of Americans have turned to the cheaper and stronger opiate: heroin. The drug now claims more lives in the US than either car accidents or gun crime. And, for the first time in over two decades, life expectancy in the US is declining - largely attributed to the rise in fatal heroin overdoses.
"In Huntington, West Virginia, Louis Theroux embeds himself in an Appalachian community that is being devastated and stretched to its limits by widespread heroin use. With one in ten babies in the city born dependent on opiates and a fatal overdose rate 13 times the national average, this is the epicentre of the most deadly drug epidemic in US history.
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"Louis spends time with the user community caught in the vice-like grip of drug misuse and follows the emergency services struggling to cope with multiple overdoses each day."
Sunday October 8, put it in your diary.
Topics: Heroin, louis theroux
