Black and Latino drug users may have to jump through more hoops when seeking withdrawal medication, Cunningham suggested. White people live in areas with more centers that prescribe buprenorphine, an opioid medicine that is more easily accessible, according to a 2021 New York-based study. Black and Latino residents, however, had more access to methadone, an opioid medicine that is heavily regulated and sometimes harder to access.
The fact that treatment availability is associated with race per the New York data suggests “this is a segregated system,” Cunningham said. In Cunningham’s experience treating HIV-positive single-room occupancy residents in the Bronx, she and her team thought most patients preferred to be treated in the SROs, so that’s where they often went. Instead, a study revealed they preferred to receive it most in the community-based drop-in center. Though “counter-intuitive,” Cunningham used the information to change how her team treated her patients.
But stimulants are hardly discussed in today’s conversations about addiction medicine, which centered on opioids and fentanyl. Cunningham found psychostimulants’ higher prevalence in California and San Francisco interesting, and implied those key data points for leaders to consider in overall drug deaths.