Black Americans suffered a spike in drug overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study finds.
Researchers from the University of California, Los Angeles, analyzed publicly available data to find the racial breakdown of the record overdose surge in 2020 and found what groups suffered the largest impact.
The research team found that Black Americans suffered a 49 percent increase in deaths per 100,000 residents between 2019 and 2020, up to 36.8 from 24.7.
Black Americans have now surpassed White Americans in overdose deaths per share of the population, only trailing Native Americans.
Black Americans (yellow) suffered a 49% increase in drug overdose deaths from 2019 to 2020, the highest of any group. Every single racial group suffered an increased of 25% or more (dotted line marks start of COVID-19 pandemic)
Black Americans (yellow) surpassed White Americans (gray) in opioid deaths per 100,000 residents for the first time since 2001 in 2020, as the racial group bore the brunt of a record opioid surge
‘In this cross-sectional study, we observed that Black individuals had the largest percentage increase in overdose mortality rates in 2020, overtaking the rate among White individuals for the first time since 1999,’ researchers wrote.
The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, gathered data from as far back as 1999.
Drug overdoses have long been and issue in the U.S., but the problem reached its height during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that a record 104,000 Americans died of an overdose between September 2020 and 2021.
Opioids, and mainly synthetic opioids like fentanyl, account for around 75 percent of these deaths.
The issue had long been associated with White Americans in Appalachia and the U.S. south. White and Native Americans far outpaced Black and Hispanic Americans up until 2016 when deaths begin to surge among Black Americans.
In 2019, Black and White Americans had tied each other with 25 overdose deaths per every 100,000 residents.
Black Americans suffered a large surge, though, outpacing every other racial demographic from 2019 to 2020.
Native Americans, who still suffer the highest drug overdose burden with more than 40 deaths per 100,000 residents in 2020, saw the second highest increase of around 43 percent.
Hispanic Americans have not been struck as hard as other groups by the overdose crisis in recent years experienced a sharp increase as well, with deaths jumping 40 percent.
At only 16 deaths per 100,000, though, Hispanic Americans still suffer the lowest share of drug overdoses among their population.
White Americans suffer 31.6 deaths per 100,000 residents, a staggering total, and while a 26 percent increase in only one year is still large, it pales in comparison to other groups.
Data for Asian Americans was not included in the study. The researchers did not indicate whether this was because the racial group generally faces lower overdose totals than others.
‘Drug overdose mortality is increasingly becoming a racial justice issue in the U.S. Our results suggest that drug overdose mortality has been exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic,’ researchers wrote of the disparities suffered by racial groups.
Worrying surges were seen in every racial group included in the study, signaling a nationwide trend that has plagued the nation in recent years.
Before 2020, the only time a single racial group had recorded an increase in overdose deaths of over 25 percent was Black Americans in 2016.
In 2020, all four categories reached that height.
There are a few factors believed to be causing this surge. First, the overuse of opioids, a problem dating back to the 1990s, has increased the reliance many have on the drugs.
While opioids are often needed for pain management, they can be dangerous and easily addictive if abused or overused. Opioids account for a majority of drug overdose deaths in America
Opioids are safe to use in moderation, and are the most effective pain-killing drugs available. For some people, opioids are a must need to manage pain and go through day-to-day life.
Drugs were overused and overprescribed in many cases, leading many to develop a dependency on the highly addictive drugs.
When people dependent on the drugs would have their prescription run out, they would often turn to illicit versions of the drugs, which presents another issue.
While all black marker drugs are dangerous, the rise of synthetic opioids like fentanyl have become a major issue.
‘The increasing toxicity of the drug supply has been associated with the increased lethality of recent incarceration as a risk factor for overdose mortality,’ researchers wrote.
The pandemic kicked these issues into overdrive, as many were left socially isolated – increasing the risk of drug use – and some who were receiving treatment had it disrupted by lockdowns early on, leading to them relapsing and overdosing.
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