- Oct 17, 2011
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A study published in the journal Epidemiology concludes an estimated 14,000 black Americans would have died from the opioid crisis had they been prescribed the drugs at the same rate as their white counterparts.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University, says doctors prescribe opioids to fewer black patients for a few reasons. Studies show doctors are less sensitive to a black patient’s pain, and some may worry that black patients will become addicted to or sell the medication.
A 2010 study found white Americans two times more likely to receive an opioid prescription than black Americans. Since pharmaceutical companies began aggressively marketing new prescription opioids in white rural areas in the 1990s, racial stereotyping has had a “protective effect” on black Americans, he says.
If a doctor subscribes to stereotypes of what an addict looks like — nonwhite, from a low-income community — the physician may assume their white, middle-class patients are immune to addiction, he says.
“Rather than recognizing that addiction is a disease that can happen to just about anybody who's repeatedly exposed to a highly addictive drug,” he says, “they may just assume that addiction is something that happens to those people.”
If you wonder how places like New Hampshire and West Virginia became hotbeds of the opioid crisis, this is part of the equation.
There are strange deep-seated racial myths that black people are relatively insensitive to pain. And this has its effects on medical treatment. While you can look at the current study as saying that racial bias has saved black lives from opioid deaths, a more worrying aspect is that black people are not getting treatment for pain they are experiencing.
Conversely, other stereotypes about what an addict or a person inclined to sell prescription drugs looks like has led to the freer prescription of opioids to white people, exposing them to risks of addictions, possibly without adequate information or consideration of the risks.
Dr. Andrew Kolodny, director of opioid policy research at Brandeis University, says doctors prescribe opioids to fewer black patients for a few reasons. Studies show doctors are less sensitive to a black patient’s pain, and some may worry that black patients will become addicted to or sell the medication.
A 2010 study found white Americans two times more likely to receive an opioid prescription than black Americans. Since pharmaceutical companies began aggressively marketing new prescription opioids in white rural areas in the 1990s, racial stereotyping has had a “protective effect” on black Americans, he says.
If a doctor subscribes to stereotypes of what an addict looks like — nonwhite, from a low-income community — the physician may assume their white, middle-class patients are immune to addiction, he says.
“Rather than recognizing that addiction is a disease that can happen to just about anybody who's repeatedly exposed to a highly addictive drug,” he says, “they may just assume that addiction is something that happens to those people.”
If you wonder how places like New Hampshire and West Virginia became hotbeds of the opioid crisis, this is part of the equation.
There are strange deep-seated racial myths that black people are relatively insensitive to pain. And this has its effects on medical treatment. While you can look at the current study as saying that racial bias has saved black lives from opioid deaths, a more worrying aspect is that black people are not getting treatment for pain they are experiencing.
Conversely, other stereotypes about what an addict or a person inclined to sell prescription drugs looks like has led to the freer prescription of opioids to white people, exposing them to risks of addictions, possibly without adequate information or consideration of the risks.
