The article, “Outcomes of State Targeted/Opioid Response Grants and the Medication First Approach: Evidence of Racial Inequities in Improved Treatment Access and Retention,” has been published in SAj.
In this commentary, the authors state that the opioid overdose epidemic in the United States persists as a public health crisis despite recent increases in funding and public attention. Nationally, overdose deaths among Black Americans have outpaced deaths among White Americans since 2019.
In the AUTHORS’ OWN WORDS, they relate the importance of their work:
“These mortality data demonstrate the importance of assessing racial equity within opioid-related substance use disorder (SUD) services. The current study examines racial differences in the St. Louis region for outcomes of Missouri’s low-barrier “Medication First” approach to opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, aimed at improving access to and retention on medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD).”
“The overdose crisis is disproportionately affecting Black communities across the United States. Despite a significant need for effective substance use services, Black people who use drugs often experience substantial barriers to entering and maintaining treatment and recovery. In Missouri, the Medication First approach was developed and disseminated through STR/SOR funding with the intention of broadly reducing structural barriers to MOUD treatment to enable all people coming from a variety of life circumstances maintain their care. We found that despite these efforts, STR/SOR funding fueled racial inequities in OUD treatment access and retention in the St. Louis region, with proportionally larger enrollment and increases in MOUD among White clients than Black clients, and shorter treatment retention of Black clients than White clients. Critically, treatment initiatives aimed to better serve people with OUD must prioritize racial equity in the planning and implementation phases or risk introducing or worsening racial inequities.”