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29th September 2017
12:38am BST

As dependency on opiates increases, how has this impacted those that are most at risk? 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. 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 the documentary, we travel with Louis through Huntington, West Virginia, as he 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. We're definitely going to tune in.*Confirmed* @louistheroux takes on America’s love affair with opiates - Sunday 8 October, 9pm @BBCTwo - https://t.co/LIkMZi3z2m pic.twitter.com/PDETvKXQMr
— BBC Press Office (@bbcpress) September 27, 2017
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