U.S. Invests $558,942 to Apply Critical Race Theory in “Opioid Use Disorder” Treatment
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The Biden administration is giving researchers at a public university more than half a million dollars to help them apply controversial critical race theory in the treatment of “opioid use disorder,” which the U.S. government says disproportionately impacts minorities. The study will be guided by a “public health critical race praxis” that assumes racial/ethnic disparities in healthcare access are produced by structural racism and discrimination (SRD). A University of Washington (UW) health professor identified as an addictions health services and disparities researcher, will lead the project which, among other things seeks to evaluate how disparities in access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) may have changed in response to COVID-19.
MOUD is an effective approach to the treatment of opioid addiction with medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). First-line treatments that reduce overdose risk include methadone and buprenorphine, but black and “Hispanic/Latinx” patients are less likely to receive buprenorphine compared to non-Hispanic white patients, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) writes in its grant announcement. “This raises equity concerns, as buprenorphine may be safer, easier to access and less stigmatizing than methadone for many patients,” the document states. Unequal access to buprenorphine is a significant problem nationwide, the agency claims, adding that unspecified “studies” estimate that black opioid abusers are 50-60% less likely to access the treatment compared to white patients with similar disparities observed among Hispanic/Latinx patients.
The taxpayer-funded study will use data from the nation’s largest provider of substance use care as well as quantitative and qualitative methods to examine the impact on racialized disparities for black, Hispanic and Latinx patients to inform future policy and create interventions that can improve equitable care for opioid addiction. Researchers will examine how changes in receipt of MOUD and retention following COVID-19 MOUD policies differ between black and Hispanic/Latinx compared to non-Hispanic white patients with opioid use disorder. They will also consider how “community-level sequelae of structural racism” influence pre and post COVID-19 changes in treatment for the minority opioid abusers and the academics will probe addicts’ experiences while receiving care and perceptions of implementation of policies related to COVID-19 among blacks, Hispanics and Latinx opioid abusers. It is essential that the impact of disparities and mechanisms underlying disparities be understood to optimize policy changes regarding equity, the NIH writes in the grant document.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/us-invests-to-apply-crt/
