While the face of the opioid crisis has predominantly been considered white and rural, overdose deaths among Latinos have skyrocketed in recent years, with experts attributing the growing numbers to the rise of fentanyl, especially mixed with other drugs.
Overdose deaths among Latinos have nearly tripled since 2011, according to a report published this month in the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Fatalities from overdoses have risen dramatically when fentanyl is mixed with other drugs, like cocaine and methamphetamine, which are more prevalent among Latinos than are heroin or prescription painkillers, according to study co-author Magdalena Cerdá, professor and director at the Center for Opioid Epidemiology and Policy at NYU Langone.
Between 2007 and 2019, fatal overdoses among Latinos from opioids mixed with cocaine rose 729%, and when mixed with methamphetamines, they have risen 4,600%. “There is a lot of product in all drugs at the moment, except for cannabis, which is contaminated with fentanyl,” Cerdá said.
It’s not clear if this mix happens on purpose or by accident, but researchers believe both are happening, according to Cerdá. Fentanyl is highly addictive, so some dealers may be mixing it with other drugs to make their clients more dependent. On the other hand, there are those who do consume fentanyl intentionally because they have developed a tolerance to opioids and need increasingly higher doses.
Experts warn the opioid epidemic is entering a new phase: What started with prescription painkillers like OxyContin in the early 2000s is now almost entirely dominated by the illicit traffic of fentanyl, which is a far more deadly synthetic opioid, almost identical to heroin but 50 times more potent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Though Latinos in general have had historically lower overdose rates compared to whites, “you see it’s increasing, so it’s really worrying,” she said.
The opioid crisis had already…
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