According to a recent study published in the journal JAMA Psychiatry, Black Americans saw the sharpest increase in drug mortality rates of any demographic group in 2020, outpacing the rate among white Americans for the first time since 1999.
that Friedman led and Hansen co-authored found that overdose deaths among people of high school age greatly accelerated under COVID, in particular among Black and Latinx Americans.
“In social isolation, not only did COVID limit people's access to drug treatment and regular health care, but they can't see people who might have given them social support in recovery, who might have even watched them while they were using drugs, to make sure that they don't overdose and be available withThe widespread distribution of toxic illicit drug supply of synthetic opioids like fentanyl — which Mexican drug cartels mix into many street drugs and smuggle into the U.S.
“Black men are six times as likely as white men in the U.S. to serve time,” Hansen emphasized. “If you've been using opioids before you got arrested, your tolerance is probably gone because you haven't had access regularly to opioids in jail or prison. So your body is very sensitive to opioids,” she said, adding that Black women are increasingly incarcerated at higher rates than white women.
“Racial assumptions about who's at risk of addiction led to deregulation of OxyContin and sister products in the '90s and created the very opioid crisis that we saw,” Hansen stated. Hansen points to effective treatments for substance use disorder, such as buprenorphine, a drug that reduces withdrawal symptoms and cravings. Prescriptions for the opioid are uncommon in the Black community. Methadone, which is less effective, is more common in Black communities.
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