HYANNIS – Attorney General Maura Healey recently hosted a virtual round-table discussion on promoting racial equity in opioid use disorder treatment and recovery services statewide.
The discussion follows an award of $1.5 million in grants from her office to help 16 organizations across the state that promote equity in treatment programs and OUD recovery services.
During the discussion, Healey announced the grant recipients and discussed how grantees plan to use the funds to address disparities.
In a statement from her office, Healey said that systemic issues, including health care provider biases, limited public health research, and inadequate media coverage have mischaracterized the opioid epidemic as an issue that mostly impacts white suburban and rural communities.
Healey said communities of color are increasingly affected by OUD.
She said that data from the Massachusetts Department of Public Health shows that opioid-related overdose deaths increased for Hispanic and Black non-Hispanic communities between 2018 and 2019.
“Certainly in COVID, we saw the exacerbation of inequities and barriers to healthcare that have disproportionately harmed Black and Brown communities for far too long,” said Healey during the discussion.
“We’re seeing some more of that play out right now when it comes to who’s getting vaccines and who isn’t getting vaccines, and these disparities are heartbreaking.”
Programs that received grant funding include the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, which will use the funds for a full-time Peer Recovery Specialist who will provide sober living assistance to tribal members and tailor care to the individual needs of community members.
“The Mashpee Wampanoag are indigenous people in this Land with a tenure on the Land spanning 12,000 years of history; yet we are no less vulnerable to the ravages of addiction,” said Jessie Little Doe Baird, Vice Chairwoman with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe.
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