Why Nobody's Talking About How the Opioid Epidemic Affects Black Neighborhoods

The opioid epidemic has become one of the major points of discussion in regards to current health emergencies.

However, much of the discussion of it has been relegated to its prevalence in White, suburban and rural communities. This epidemic has also ravaged Black communities, but coverage continues to be relegated to White ones.

To properly understand the opioid epidemic is to understand how it affects all kinds of communities.

What is the Opioid Epidemic?

The opioid epidemic originated in doctors’ offices, hospitals, and pharmaceutical offices. The short-term treatment of problems with prescribed painkillers led to patients easily abusing these addictive substances.

When they were no longer able to obtain these from doctors, they turned to street drugs, like heroin. The cheap nature of these drugs made it so that just about anyone could afford it.

However, addiction is expensive, and the more you’re hooked on something, the higher the dose you need. Fentanyl addiction has added a new wrinkle to this crisis, with this incredibly deadly synthetic opioid saturating the market and claiming countless lives.

Fentanyl is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine, making it 200-400 times more potent than heroin.

Reference: affirmhealth.com

When Did the Problem Come to Black Neighborhoods?

Increased demand for opioids meant that drug traffickers weren’t going to underestimate their potential for customers. Doctors might not have been prescribing opioids to Black patients (under the misguided notion that they were better able to withstand pain), but that didn’t mean Black neighborhoods were going to be unable to resist them.

With poverty and untreated mental health, it’s no wonder that Black and other minority communities would turn to opioids as a temporary solution. However, opioids are more of a problem than they are a solution.

Reference: hepmag.com

How Opioids Affect Black Neighborhoods

Opioids can have a devastating effect on a community and its people regardless of background. However, with so many Black neighborhoods already starved for resources, the introduction of opioids has made an already bad situation worse.

There is less help and more punishment for Black people suffering from addiction. Instead of being viewed as people suffering from a health problem and being sent to addiction treatment centers, they’re seen as criminals who are blind to how their habit is affecting their lives.

Reference: therecoveryvillage.com

Why Nobody is Talking About It

You don’t need to be some kind of conspiracy theorist to deduce that the media as a whole isn’t all that concerned with the plight of Black communities, at least not compared to White ones.

Many racial biases are unconscious, and they often concern a lack of empathy when it comes to minority communities. The idea of White communities being ravaged by opiate addiction seems like much more of a novelty compared to Black ones.

Oftentimes, America’s most vulnerable citizens lack access to social services, counseling, and other health systems. The idea that only some people with addictions deserve attention and help needs to be reversed immediately if we hope to have any hope of eradicating the opioid crisis.

Reference: onlinemasters.ohio.edu

By keeping Black neighborhoods out of the discussion when it comes to the opioid epidemic, the media is saying that only privileged classes are worthy of attention and sympathy.

Ignoring a problem won’t make it go away and neither will ignoring a community. Opioid addiction is a health crisis that does not discriminate, and coverage needs to reflect that.