Unreported World: Season 2022, Episode 5

2022 - 5: Addicted America

Krishnan Guru-Murthy reports from St Louis, Missouri, highlighting a drugs epidemic that has killed more people than Covid and is disproportionately affecting black people. Opioid painkiller fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin and much cheaper to buy. Its devastating effects are being felt across the US, but particularly in rust belt middle-America towns like St Louis, which not only has one of the highest murder rates in the States, but last year also saw 436 overdose deaths. Guru-Murthy meets residents trying to dull the pain of their life with fentanyl, learning that many of the city's addicts are homeless or prostitutes.