Tentacles of America’s opioid crisis take hold in Black, Brown communities

By D. Kevin McNeir, The Afro

From 1999 to 2020, opioid overdose deaths claimed the lives of over half a million Americans, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with opioid-involved deaths increasing each year. Even more disturbing, 2021 marked the first time the U.S. surpassed 100,000 related deaths in a single year. 

Yet, while a majority of adults – 61 percent – consider the misuse of opioids in the U.S. to be a major public health emergency, based on results of a Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) poll conducted in May 2024, many Americans tend to believe that the opioid crisis is more of a national problem (68 percent), than one impacting their own state (53 percent) or their community (36 percent). 

Even in areas of the U.S. where drug overdose rates have increased, public concern about addiction is down, according to a Pew survey from May 2022. As for those who come from low-income or minority communities, the BPC poll indicates that they are less likely to say the opioid crisis is a major problem in their respective communities than adults who are not. However, as data from sources including the CDC indicate, they would be wrong – dead wrong. 

One major takeaway from the BPC poll illustrates a change in demographics over the past five years among those with the highest drug overdose mortality – from White Americans in the Northeast to other ethnic populations. Contrary to popular belief, mortality has increased by 81 percent among both Black Americans and Native Americans, and by 67 percent in the West since 2019. 

Further, even when Black and Native Americans recognize that they have a problem with opioid use, they often find it more difficult than Whites to secure affordable, effective and convenient treatment – not to mention the added burden of the stigma related to opioid addiction that’s particularly prevalent within minority communities

Learn how one county in Virginia is taking the lead to identify and resolve gaps in services for people dealing with addiction.

Unfortunately, many Black Americans in need of help with addiction are incarcerated instead.

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