Opioid crisis hitting Black communities at alarming rates amid pandemic

By Kelsey Minor, The grio

In the thick of the COVID pandemic, deaths among Black Americans soar due to the opioid addiction crisis.

…The drug crisis is hitting communities of color especially hard. In St. Louis, deaths among Black people increased last year at three times the rate of Whites, skyrocketing more than 33% in a year…

“At the beginning of the opioid crisis it was primarily White Americans who were impacted by this but a growing number of Black Americans are dying at alarming rates,” says Dr. Nora Volkow, Director of National Institute on Drug Abuse. 

According to the CDC data, many of the deaths involve illicit fentanyl. Dealers have mixed fentanyl with other drugs and it’s believed that’s one reason that deaths from methamphetamines and cocaine are also rising. Researchers say that majority of the new cases have been in the western part of the country where cartels have gained a footing on smuggling drugs into the country…

Opioid overdose death rates didn’t change for Black people in New York between 2018 and 2019. However, they declined by 18% for White people. Researchers with the study concluded that Black people did not benefit equally from prevention and treatment efforts during the years studied. What health officials believe is one of the driving factors for the increase in mortality is the stresses of the pandemic. 

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