The State of Black America’s Drug Overdose Epidemic

By Anissa Durham, Word in Black

In the last two years, drug overdose deaths have declined by about 10% nationally. But Black Americans are still dying at alarming rates.

We call them addicts. Users. Drug seekers — and we see them as less than human.  

We often assume unhoused people living in tents under freeway overpasses are substance users. But it’s our neighbors, our loved ones, and our family. The reality is that most Americans know someone who struggles with substance use. And for Black America, there’s a drug overdose epidemic. 

“We have historically criminalized substance use in Black and Brown communities — the view has been very harsh. It’s almost as if it’s a throwaway population,” says Saeeda Dunston, CEO of Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities, a Queens, New York-based nonprofit service agency focused on substance use, prevention, and recovery.

In the United States, the mortality rate for drug overdoses reached an all-time high in 2022. Over the past two years, deaths have declined by approximately 10% nationwide. But when broken down by different ethnicities, Black Americans are still dying at alarming rates. 

Anissa Durham asks why Black folks keep dying from overdoses.

The war on drugs has failed.

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