Overdoses and racial disparity

Despite substantial efforts, racial and ethnic disparities widen in treatment of substance use disorder.

Host Seán Collins talks with Dr. Carlos Blanco, lead author of a perspective piece published June 16th in the New England Journal of Medicine titled, "Research to Move Policy — Using Evidence to Advance Health Equity for Substance Use Disorders."

The authors note that, despite substantial efforts to address the epidemic of drug-overdose deaths in the United States, racial and ethnic disparities in treatment access and outcomes among patients with substance use disorders have widened. Rates of overdose deaths are rising faster in Black, Latinx, and American Indian and Alaska Native populations than in White populations.

Dr. Blanco talks with Seán about barriers to the best care possible along with ways medicine can make that care available to all regardless of race and ethnicity.

KEYWORDS

• racial and ethnic disparities in health
• substance use disorders
• equity
• stigma
• barriers to best care