When combined with stimulant drugs like cocaine and meth, opioids are proving particularly deadly for Black Americans
. Overdose deaths that involved more than one substance increased dramatically between 2007 and 2019, but rose far more quickly among Black Americans than among whites. Among Black Americans, the number of deaths from opioids with cocaine during this time period rose 575%—up from 0.6 to 4.05 deaths per 100,000 people—while among white people, the death rate rose 184%, from 0.49 to 1.39 deaths per 100,000 people.
Even the researchers were surprised by how dramatic the gap was, says Townsend. “What we found in this study was really, really alarming,” she says. “Not only are stimulant-opioid overdose deaths increasing very rapidly in this country, but they are disproportionately affecting people from marginalized racial and ethnic groups, and particularly Black Americans.” The divide seems to be growing even wider.
Expanding access to drug treatment programs, especially for communities of color, is key to helping decrease these deaths, Townsend says. However, there is no easy path to preventing overdose deaths. Unlike with opioids, there areto treat stimulant use disorder, and no evidence-based treatment designed specifically for people with polysubstance use disorder yet exists, says Townsend. “We absolutely need to scale up and develop additional treatment modalities,” she says.
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