Blacks, Latinos Hit Harder by Opioid Epidemic, NJ Panel Told

The New Jersey opioid epidemic is at a tipping point, and lawmakers, law enforcement and advocates alike are coming together to examine the role that race has played, and explore how communities can have better access to address abuse issues, an expert panel heard on Thursday.

The panel, hosted by Knock Out Opioid Abuse Day in partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey, featured New Jersey Acting Attorney General Andrew Bruck, Capt. Jason Piotrowski of the New Jersey State Police Drug Monitoring Initiative, Dr. Robert Johnson, interim dean of  Robert Wood Johnson Medical School at Rutgers University, and Jayme Ganey, a licensed professional counselor and program manager for Family Connections’ Culture Connections.

“The opioid epidemic has hurt every community in New Jersey,” said Angelo Valente, executive director of Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ).

“As we continue to address this issue, it is important to consider the impact of race in how different communities are affected, and assure that all communities have access to the education and resources to prevent and treat addiction among their residents.”

In 2020, more than 3,000 people in New Jersey died from suspected drug overdoses. A  vast majority of the deaths involved some form of opioid including prescription painkillers, heroin and synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl.

“As we work together to knock out opioid abuse, we cannot afford to leave any community behind,” said Acting Attorney General Andrew J. Bruck.

“We are committed to helping anyone struggling with addiction find the path to recovery and to pursuing equitable strategies that will put an end to the opioid epidemic once and for all.”

Bruck added that looking at the big picture, New Jersey has made strides in creating data-driven strategies, access to conviction treatment, and promoting alternatives to criminalization.

He also noted that with the current lawsuit against opioid manufacturers, they’re confident that hundreds of millions of dollars will be put back into the state to fight the epidemic.

“There’s a lot to be optimistic about, but we can’t leave any community behind, and that’s why we also need to talk about race and racial justice.”

In 2015, the expert panel explained, that Blacks and Latinx people made up 22 percent of all drug-related deaths in New Jersey, and now it’s estimated to be 40 percent.

“It’s a breathtaking change in a short amount of time,” Bruck concluded, “and it highlights the need for a race-based approach.

Impact of Race

Jason Piotrowski has been a member of the New Jersey State Police Drug Monitoring Initiative (DMI) since 2014, collecting data on patterns and race related trends. Since then, the DMI has transformed to collect data and analyze it from a comprehensive and collaborative approach, joining public health, public safety, treatment and prevention ideals. Piotrowski shared that the initiative now draws on almost 40 million records.

He also noted that the initiative’s research has been primarily about addressing the rise in opioids and synthetic opioids like methadone, whereas lab testing is now showing that fentanyl is found in 96 percent of heroin — all deadly drugs that leave nothing in their wake.

Unfortunately, Piotrowski notes that the racial breakdown of who is dying illuminates racial disparities.

Piotrowski shared that nationally, Black Americans make up 25 deaths per 100,000. However, In New Jersey, Black people make up 47 deaths per 100,000 — “that’s 62 percent higher than white and 34 percent higher than the Hispanic population,” he said.

Dr. Robert Johnson of Rutgers University noted that the current racial disparities stem from our country’s history, specifically the differences in white and Black medical experience and treatment from the civil war.

White people were able to get good treatment from doctors, whereas Black soldiers were less likely to receive opioids for their treatment, thus fostering a false belief that Black people in general needed less pain medication. Johnson noted that this racial discrimination resulted in the stark rise in opioid addictions in people of color populations since they didn’t recieve supervised treatment.

“We are observing significant changes in race related trends,” Johnson detailed. “It’s well known that addiction doesn’t discriminate and anyone can be affected.”

He also noted that the present death rate is heartbreaking, considering in New Jersey, more than eight people die every day from drug-related deaths since 2018.

However, Johnson is optimistic about the changes the state is  making, and notes that addressing the opioid epidemic’s impact on race is going to be key in ending the trauma.

Moving Forward

Acting Attorney General Bruck noted that the first step to meaningful change is “being transparent about the numbers and acknowledging the trends.” He also added that we have to think about the way our justice system treats individuals suffering with opioid addictions, and give them the help they need so they don’t become a statistic.

Jayme Ganey, a licensed professional counselor and program manager for Family Connections’ Culture Connections added that “we have the power to reflect more inclusivity in our policies and our practices” — and it’s time we use that power.

Ganey detailed that with the help of programs and the right advocates, moving forward to address the opioid epidemic will look like funding programs to address social determinants of health, assess attitudes and bias approaches, and educating diverse stakeholders to become culturally inclusive in considering the roots of the epidemic.

“We can’t be inclusive if there are not all the voices at the table,” she explained.

Ganey also suggested that looking ahead will be heavily determined on access to landscape data, considering “you can’t measure a problem that you can’t see.”

Overall, she is optimistic about New Jersey’s ability to make a meaningful impact on the state of racial equity in the drug epidemic, saying, “If we can change the landscape, we can change lives.”

Andrew Bruck is the New Jersey Acting Attorney General; Jason Piotrowski is the Captain of the New Jersey State Police Drug Monitoring Initiative; Dr. Robert Johnson is the interim Dean of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Jayme Ganey is a licensed professional counselor and program manager for Family Connections’ Culture Connections.

The full recording of the panel is available to watch here.