\u201c<\/strong>We\u2019ve seen rising overdoses and rising overdose deaths in racial and ethnic minoritized communities, particularly Black Americans, and a lot of that has been attributed to lack of access to effective medications that we know reduce and curb these risks,\u201d said Utsha Khatri, the paper\u2019s lead author and assistant professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.\u00a0<\/p>\n The study also showed that patients using either of the government-backed insurance options \u2014 Medicaid or Medicare Advantage \u2014 were substantially more likely to receive buprenorphine or naltrexone than those with commercial insurance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tHow the U.S. is sabotaging its best tools to prevent deaths in the opioid epidemic<\/a><\/p>\n The study does carry a major limitation: It does not include data on patients who take methadone<\/a>, the most effective treatment for opioid use disorder (OUD).\u00a0<\/p>\n Given the stringent requirements<\/a> that often accompany methadone treatment, buprenorphine and naltrexone are often lower-barrier options. Buprenorphine can be taken daily or as a longer-action injection, and can be prescribed by almost any doctor and picked up at most pharmacies.\u00a0<\/p>\n Naltrexone, often marketed as the long-action injection Vivitrol, aims to curb opioid cravings in people who are already abstinent. Data supporting its effectiveness are mixed, but criminal justice settings often favor the medication because, unlike methadone and buprenorphine, it is not an opioid.\u00a0<\/p>\n Though the research notes that access to medications for opioid use disorder has improved in recent years, racial disparities persist.<\/p>\n The phenomenon is reflective of multiple, compounding tragedies, said Tracie Gardner, a veteran policy advocate in New York state who recently founded the National Black Harm Reduction Network. Among them, she listed limited access to health services in many communities of color and entrenched stigma around using medications to treat addiction, and the disproportionate incarceration of Black people, leaving them at the mercy of jails or prisons that might oppose the use of medication altogether.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Because historically these medications have been siloed from the health care system, there is a stigma associated with them as not being health care,\u201d she said. \u201cThis medieval stuff is still infused in what we\u2019re calling a 21st-century addiction treatment setting.\u201d<\/p>\n Gardner also pointed to the hostility within certain 12-step programs<\/a>, like Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, toward people using medication as part of their addiction recovery.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe other piece is that there are elements of 12-step that make it very difficult for people to be on medicine that will reduce their risk of overdose,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing called \u2018dirty\u2019 when you\u2019re taking medicine prescribed by a health care professional is internalized in 12-step. And then that is perpetuated by people who are in recovery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t\tThe recovery community says it offers refuge from opioid addiction. But it\u2019s still hostile to lifesaving addiction medications\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n To combat the disparities, the paper\u2019s authors advocate for \u201cculturally sensitive care and standardized OUD screening,\u201d and the integration of addiction care and medication prescribing across the health system, far beyond specialized addiction treatment providers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Medicaid programs have served as an example in recent years, they wrote, by covering all approved medications for opioid use disorder and offering coordinated care models.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe should really be focusing on making sure Medicaid is expanded to eligible individuals and not rolling back the benefit, as is currently being discussed,\u201d Khatri said, citing current Republican proposals to cut the safety-net health program<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Frame-41-768x432.jpg\")
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