Efforts to Reduce Overdose Deaths Fail to Help Black Marylanders
After overdose deaths due to opioids began to increase in 2015 (largely due to the introduction of the drug Fentanyl, a highly lethal opiate), efforts were made both across the U.S. and in Maryland to address the crisis. While these efforts brought about an overall decline in opioid overdose deaths between 2018 and 2019, opioid overdose deaths among people of color increased over the same period, both in the U.S. and in Maryland.
In 2017, a total of 1330 White Marylanders died of an opioid overdose; in 2019 the number was 1197, a decrease of 12%. In 2017, 587 Black Marylanders died of an opioid overdose; in 2019 the number was 821, an increase of 40%. This disparity is not unique to Maryland, but has occurred across the United States.
These figures indicate that the initiatives implemented to address the opioid crisis have been somewhat successful for Whites, but have had little impact on people of color. These initiatives include:
- public awareness campaigns
- overdose response training and distribution of Naloxone (a drug that reverses an opioid overdose)
- passage of Maryland's Good Samaritan Law, which protects people from prosecution for certain crimes if they call for help in the event of an overdose
- increase in treatment beds and recovery residences.
To address this disparity, the Governor and Lieutenant Governor added a task force to the Inter-Agency Heroin Opioid Coordination Council: the Racial Disparities Task Force. It is hoped that the Task Force will be instrumental in developing strategies to reduce opioid deaths in Maryland's Black population.
View the Racial Disparities Task Force Presentation
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