By Jennifer Porter Gore
It’s undoubtedly good news: Late last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that drug overdose deaths in the U.S. had fallen significantly between July 2023 and July 2024.
But a closer look reveals a dark cloud around that silver lining. Black people are still dying from drug overdoses in higher numbers than whites.
That’s due in part to systemic and social barriers to treatment. These include lack of access to healthcare, health insurance companies refusing to cover treatment, and the stigma of asking for help to overcome drug addiction.
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When the drop in addiction overdoses started making headlines last fall, Paul N. Samuels, director and president of the Legal Action Center in New York, called it encouraging news. Still, “it’s crucial to keep in mind that there are still places in this country and groups of people for which this is not the case,” he said in a statement.
States that examine recent overdose data “have found that the declines are almost entirely among white people, while rates among Native American, Black, and Hispanic communities continue to rise,” Samuels said.
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Researchers and federal and state health officials don’t know exactly why overall drug overdose deaths have fallen so much in recent months. But for Black Americans, a combination of lack of access to healthcare and the prevailing stigma of being unable to overcome drug addiction without help have kept the numbers high—especially among Black men.
These disparate rates began in 2011 when yearly overdose rates change among Black Americans began slowly rising relative to whites. Then, in 2016, the steep inclines began popping up. That year, overdose deaths in the Black community skyrocketed more than 40% in one year and have continued rising since then.
During the last two years, overall drug overdose death rates started falling from the elevated numbers seen in 2022, the tail end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The death rate in the Black community was 1.4 times higher than for whites that year, and it ticked up almost two more percentage points in 2023.
By that time, the death rate for Black men aged 55 and older was nearly triple the national average for the age group. In fact, the overall drug overdose rate for older Black men had increased nearly fivefold between 2015 and 2023.
Naloxone was found to be distributed less often in racially segregated communities.
Research from the University of Michigan published in December found that almost all participants in the study hesitated to pursue drug addiction treatment because of stigma.
When researchers asked why they weren’t in treatment, more than 91% of Black respondents responded “yes” to the prompted answer, “You thought you should have been able to handle your alcohol or drug use on your own.”
That far outpaced the 66% who said they weren’t ready to start treatment. Even fewer (47%) said they did not have health insurance coverage for alcohol or drug use disorders.
These findings echo a study conducted in Baltimore that found the belief that people who abuse drugs or alcohol “can handle it alone” was a primary reason participants hesitated to get treatment.
The research also found a slight difference between men and women male and female respondents: men were more likely to worry about losing family connections, while women feared they would not find someone to look after their children while they attended treatment sessions.
It also doesn’t help that, even though a large number of Americans believe drug addiction should be treated as a disease, around three-quarters of states still criminalize it. As a result, treatment options differ widely by state or jurisdiction.
Advocates say a Biden administration policy expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder, such as naloxone, has helped significantly reduce the number of overdose deaths. But the lifesaving drug is still less likely to be available to Black people.
As reported in The Guardian, some jurisdictions, including Chicago, have made naloxone and fentanyl test strips free to the public.
“We’ve seen some really good progress on getting more folks on board with supporting some harm-reduction approaches like fentanyl test strips and Naloxone expansion,” Maritza Perez Medina of the Drug Policy Alliance told The Guardian.
“Half-measures and outdated policies are costing lives.”
-Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the American Medical Association
But this isn’t the case in all states. While some decriminalized drug-testing equipment, including fentanyl test strips, in 2023, other states bucked this trend and banned it.
However, Black people and other historically marginalized persons have been less likely than whites to have access to medications for opioid use disorder. For instance, Naloxone was found to be distributed less often in racially segregated communities.
Harvard University research published in 2023 finds this is a continuing problem. That research blames disparities in naloxone access partly on “stigma, racial segregation of health care, disproportionate enrollment in Medicaid, and increases in fentanyl use in urban areas,” among others.
A 30-year-old law requires insurance companies to provide equal treatment for mental health and substance use disorders as it does for other illnesses or diseases. But insurers regularly disregard the law despite medical and legal professionals urging more resources to ensure compliance.
“Half-measures and outdated policies are costing lives, and we urge policymakers to act,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala of the American Medical Association said in a statement.
“We need unwavering commitment to expand access to lifesaving medications, enforce parity laws, and address the glaring gaps in harm reduction,” Mukkamala said. “We cannot stand by as outdated policies and insurance barriers prevent patients from accessing evidence-based care.”
Source: Seattle Medium
