Cocaine Accounts for Substantial Overdose Burden Among Black Adults

By Amy Orciari Herman

Edited by David G. Fairchild, MD, MPH, and Jaye Elizabeth Hefner, MD

Cocaine is an important contributor to overdose deaths — in particular, among black adults — according to a research letter in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Analyzing U.S. death certificate data, researchers found that overdose deaths increased for whites, blacks, and Hispanics from 2000–2003 to 2012–2015. In the latter period, heroin and natural/semisynthetic opioids were most commonly implicated in overdose deaths among whites — and to a lesser extent among Hispanics — but cocaine was the greatest contributor to deaths among blacks. For example, the death rate due to cocaine overdose was 7.6 per 100,000 person-years among black men, while the rate due to natural/semisynthetic opioids was 7.9 per 100,000 among white men.

The researchers write, "Our findings show that cocaine-related overdose deaths in [black] persons are on par with heroin- and prescription opioid-related deaths in [white] women and men. ... These deaths are an important, long-term public health problem that is often overlooked."