Fault Lines: Opioid Wars

Saturday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT, Al Jazeera’s “Fault Lines” investigates the battle over opioid painkillers, some of the most popular and controversial drugs in America.

The U.S. consumes more than 80 percent of the global supply of opioids, and overdoses from prescription opioid drugs kill more than 17,000 Americans every year — one overdose death every 30 minutes.

In this week’s “Fault Lines,” correspondent Sebastian Walker and the “Fault Lines” team investigate why the Food and Drug Administration approved a powerful new opioid painkiller, Zohydro, during the midst of the worst epidemic of prescription drug addiction and overdoses in U.S. history.