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The nation\u2019s drug overdose epidemic has worsened since COVID-19, creating a twindemic of sorts in the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom 2020 to 2021, overdose deaths exceeded 100,000 for the first time ever. No community or demographic is untouched,\u201d according to Bobby Mukkamala, MD<\/a>, chair of the AMA Substance Use and Pain Care Task Force<\/a>.<\/p>\n The epidemic has been fed by a dramatic increase in the use of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogs, methamphetamine and cocaine. In tracking these developments, Dr. Mukkamala urged physicians to look closely at their practices \u201cto ensure that we address any health inequities that might negatively affect our Black and brown patients\u2014and we advocate to policymakers that all barriers to evidence-based care must be removed, including social determinants of health that may impede timely, affordable access to that care.\u201d<\/p>\n Looking at the epidemic by race and ethnicity, things aren\u2019t equal, said Dr. Mukkamala, who also chairs the AMA Board of Trustees<\/a>. For example, patients who receive buprenorphine for opioid-use disorder are overwhelmingly white, whereas the patients receiving methadone are overwhelmingly Black.<\/p>\n \u201cThis data needs assessment and work to ensure that all of us have access to the best care for our needs,\u201d he said. Research published within the last year by JAMA<\/em><\/a>\u00ae<\/sup><\/em>,\u00a0 the Department of the Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (PDF<\/a>) and the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (PDF<\/a>) have highlighted the issue.<\/p>\n He and several other physician experts addressed the struggles that patients from historically marginalized racial and ethnic groups face during an AMA Advocacy Insights webinar, and what can be done to support these patients.<\/p>\n