New Stats Show Widening Racial Disparities in Local Overdose Deaths

Despite recent reports of a sharp decline in drug overdose deaths throughout the United States, local health officials are concerned with an alarming disparity they’re seeing among racial groups falling victim to overdose deaths in Mecklenburg County. 

According to a Feb. 27 release from Mecklenburg County Public Health (MCPH), officials have seen a 200% rise in overdose deaths among Black and Hispanic residents in Mecklenburg County since 2019, compared to a 14% increase among white residents in the same time period. 

The data comes as MCPH’s Overdose Data to Action initiative sees the department working with the Medical Examiner’s Office and Mecklenburg EMS Agency on “enhanced surveillance efforts” to track overdose deaths and overdose-related emergency responses and hospitalizations to better understand the impact of opioids locally and inform prevention strategies. 

The data is available for public viewing in the recently launched Opioid Overdose Data to Action Dashboard. 

Along with the alarming stats tracking local overdose deaths, the data shows that more than 55% of non-fatal overdoses have occurred in Black or Hispanic populations, who only make up 30% and 15% of the total Mecklenburg County population, respectively. 

The rise in overdose deaths and overdoses is believed to be largely driven by fentanyl being mixed with other street drugs such as cocaine and counterfeit pills. 

“These numbers are a stark reminder that the opioid epidemic is impacting every group in our community,” stated MCPH Director Dr. Raynard Washington in Thursday’s release. “Despite making some progress among some groups, the rise in fatal overdoses among our Black and Hispanic residents is alarming.” 

With the support of Mecklenburg County’s Opioid Settlement funding, MCPH and community partners distributed 16,968 doses of naloxone in 2024. Paramedics with Mecklenburg EMS often leave naloxone kits with patients and bystanders when responding to overdose-related emergency responses.

“Almost every day we see the devastating burden of fentanyl in our community,” said Dr. Thomas Owens, Mecklenburg County medical examiner, in the release. “Many of the deaths are the result of people unknowingly taking fentanyl that has been mixed with other street drugs or pills and could have been prevented with detection and naloxone administration.”

Robert Dawkins with Action NC, a grassroots organization that works closely with Charlotte’s Black and Hispanic communities, said the stats are simply a microcosm of other broad systemic disparities in American society. 

“These numbers do not surprise me because the Black and brown community suffer the most from a lack of affordable health care,” Dawkins said, “and self medication to deal with pain and suffering leads to illegal drug use.

“This problem is only going to worsen with the proposed cuts to Medicaid,” he continued. “We applaud the work that Mecklenburg County provides but worry that not only are they underfunded to address this healthcare crisis but the anticipated cuts by the federal government are going to make their job harder and lead to more Black and brown families becoming victims of the fentanyl epidemic because of a lack of health care options.” 

Beth Ockerbloom, grants and program manager with Queen City Harm Reduction, a program of the Charlotte-based Center for Prevention Services, said she wasn’t surprised by the numbers as they are the result of similar disparities in access to health care. 

Ockerbloom also cited a lack of awareness about the risks of fentanyl in the Hispanic community, adding that, in her experience working in the harm reduction space, she’s seen a higher prevalence of stimulant use in the Hispanic community as opposed to opiates, which are more popular among other demographics. 

“When something is laced into a stimulant, you’re obviously expecting it a lot less,” she said. “You’re expecting to overdose a lot less frequently. You’re not as prepared as you would be if you were strictly seeking out opiates.” 

She emphasized that, while fentanyl can be mixed into other drugs such as cocaine or street pills, there’s a misconception in some harm reduction spaces that marijuana is being laced with fentanyl and causing overdoses, which is not the case. 

Read more: Charlotte Needle Exchange Goes Mobile as Overdoses Spike (2020)

The DEA’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment does not identify fentanyl-laced cannabis as a public health threat, instead highlighting that fentanyl is more often mixed with drugs like cocaine, methamphetamines, xylazine and other opioids.

Ockerbloom agreed with Dawkins that the disparities are more likely to grow worse before getting better. 

“These leaps in the Latino population will absolutely only get worse as we, as a country, continue to isolate, to remove resources, to displace,” she said. “It absolutely only gets worse. That is very, very scary.”