Check Out The Trailer For Showtime’s Thrilling Opioid Documentary, ‘The Trade’

There have been some truly excellent documentaries about America’s drug epidemic lately, and it looks like another one will be coming to us in February. Showtime has recently announced that following its Sundance premiere, The Trade will debut on streaming February 2.

Directed by Matthew Heineman, the Emmy-winning director behind Cartel Land, and executive produced by Morgan Spurlock (who has since been removed from the project), The Trade is a five part docu-series that attempts to show the full effects of the opioid crisis. Spanning from Columbus, Ohio to Guerrero, Mexico, the series focuses on the subjects most effected by this epidemic: the growers, addicts, cartel leaders, and the officers caught in the middle of it all.

The Trade stands as a sort of continuation for Heineman, who is best known for the award-winning Cartel Land. “My goal with the series is to highlight the human side of the opioid epidemic through hopeful and emotional stories on both sides of the border,” the director said in a press release. “Although each character’s world is vastly different, they are all caught in the same machine – trapped in a never-ending cycle of dependency that they attempt to escape from.”

“The Trade is a powerful and visceral odyssey from the poppy fields of cartel-controlled Mexico to the battle to save lives in heartland America,” Vinnie Malhotra, Showtime’s Senior Vice President of Documentaries, Unscripted, and Sports Programming said of the series. “Heineman masterfully delivers one of the most bold and emotional narratives in documentary today.”

The Trade will premiere at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and debut on Showtime Friday, February 2 at 9 p.m. ET.