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Returning: Louis Theroux

3 new specials filmed in the USA tackle sex trafficking, murder and opiate dependency.

Three brand new Louis Theroux specials will screen on BBC Knowledge soon.

All filmed in the USA, they tackle sex trafficking, murder and opiate dependency.

Houston, the fourth largest city in the US, is widely considered to be the number one hub for human trafficking in North America. The US Department of Justice estimates that at least one in five of all the country’s victims are trafficked through the city and most of these people will be forced to work in the sex industry.

Milwaukee is said to be one of the most racially divided and impoverished cities in the US. With spiralling gun crime and homicide rates, this Midwestern city encapsulates America’s complex and troubled relationship with guns and the increasing disharmony between African American communities and the police.

America’s love affair with prescription painkillers has led to a population dependent on opiates. But since a crackdown on their over-prescription, where does this leave the two million Americans who 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.

Updated: Tuesdays at 8.30pm from December 5 on BBC Knowledge.

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