Tentacles of America’s opioid crisis take hold in Black, Brown communities

By D. Kevin McNeirSpecial to the AFRO From 1999 to 2020, opioid overdose deaths claimed the lives of over half a million Americans, according to& data& from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with opioid-involved deaths increasing each year. Even more disturbing, 2021 marked the first time the U.S. surpassed 100,000 related deaths in a single year.& Yet, while a majority of adults – 61 percent – consider the misuse of opioids in the U.S. to be a major public health emergency, based on results of a Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) poll conducted in May 2024, many Americans tend to believe that the opioid crisis is more of a national problem (68 percent), than one impacting their own state (53 percent) or their community (36 percent).& Dr. Miranda M. Hill, (center), who matriculated at the University of Michigan College of Pharmacy and recently assumed the helm as the director of drug information at Hampton University’s School of Pharmacy, knows the devastating effects of opioid abuse, both professionally and from childhood experiences. (Photo courtesy Dr. Miranda M. Hill) Even in areas of the U.S. where drug overdose rates have increased, public concern about addiction is down, according to a...