Source: Nia Noelle / Radio One
The opioid epidemic is now hitting black communities throughout the area harder than before, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.
Last year, 1 in 5 of 347 fatal overdoses counted by the Hamilton County Health Department was a black person. Compared to 2014, when the stats showed 1 in 8 of 248 overdose-death victims were black.
The drug driving this epidemic is a mix of Cocaine and fentanyl. Cocaine cut with fentanyl gives addicts seeking a stronger high just that and it maximizes drug dealers’ profits.
Now, the rate of overdose deaths among Black people in Hamilton County are running even with White people in the county. Blacks make up just 27% of the county’s population, with the White population counted at 68 percent. In Ohio, the black community is much more likely to use cocaine over heroin and now that it’s being cut with deadly fentanyl, users are way more likely to overdose.
