Opioid epidemic spreads to communities of color
Overdose deaths have nearly doubled in Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native communities in the past few years
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In its early years, the epicenter of the opioid epidemic was in largely white, rural communities. A new study by Johns Hopkins University researchers, though, shows that’s changed dramatically in the last decade.
Overdose deaths have nearly doubled in Black, Hispanic, and American Indian/Alaska Native communities in the past few years, according to the study.
Brendan Saloner, a Bloomberg Professor of American Health in Addiction and Overdose, pointed to the spread of fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, as a key reason for the demographic shift.
“Fentanyl moved east to west, so it’s now a national drug issue,” he said. “As fentanyl is increasingly being combined, intentionally or unintentionally, with cocaine and methamphetamines, it’s just affecting different population groups.”
More optimistically, he added, states hit hard in the early stages of the crisis have now implemented programs and policies that have reduced overdose deaths.
State of the crisis
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, opioid-related deaths cut the nation’s average life expectancy at birth by eight months, according to new research appearing in The Lancet Regional Health–Americas.
In 2022 alone, more than 80,000 of the 3.3 million deaths that occurred in the United States were caused by opioid-related overdoses. These deaths predominantly affected young adults: Compared to the average U.S. life expectancy at that time, those who died from opioid overdoses lost an average of 38 years of life.
“Just the number of deaths alone hardly captures the enormous burden of the opioid crisis on this country,” said Alison Hill, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering at Johns Hopkins University. “These are people in their 20s and 30s who aren’t close to the end of their lives—it’s really taking away a huge number of potential years where they could have lived and contributed to society.”
Hill and her team have made a public dashboard where anyone can view data to better understand how different regions and demographic groups are affected by the opioid epidemic.
“Looking at specific groups affected, specific regions affected, and specific drug combinations gives a much more detailed picture of how we need to target this crisis, which is only getting worse with time,” Hill said.
Areas of promise
Saloner pointed to three interventions that help prevent opioid overdose deaths:
- Making Naloxone, a medication that can reverse an overdose, more widely available: Members of the public health community are focused on providing it to people who are at high risk of an overdose and their family and friends.
- Expanding access to medication treatment for opioid use disorder: “The reality is we have very effective medications that cut overdose risk by more than half, but many of the people who would benefit from those medicines are not finding them,” Saloner said. “Trying to find more ramps to medication … is an important tool in the toolbox.”
- Establishing new overdose prevention centers: New York City and Rhode Island both recently opened overdose prevention centers, where drug users can bring their own drugs and have access to medical care if there’s a problem. Harm reduction programs, such as these centers and needle exchanges, increase chances of a person seeking treatment, he said.
“That human connection, having someone in your life that cares about you enough to want you to stay alive, that matters,” Saloner said.