These days the words ‘opiate addiction’ are synonymous with American society, the country has a twisted love affair with prescription painkillers and because of this we are witness to widespread dependancy issues seen across the country.

In recent times there has been quite the crackdown on this over-prescription which sounds good but in reality where does this leave the 2 million Americans who are already addicted on these potent painkillers?

It is becoming clear that with the increase in price and overall scarcity of these drugs, users are no tirning to the streets in their droves, substituting the painkillers with a cheaper and stringer opiate, heroin. It is a total epidemic which is claiming more lives than gun crime. For the first time in over 2 decades the overall life expectancy in America is falling, primarily due to fatal overdoses.

In this episode of Dark States we see Louis Theroux travel to an Appalachian community that is being devastated and stretched to its limits by widespread heroin use. Here Louis tries to come to terms with the sheer scale of the problem.