Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Rayven L. Peterson; Mona Goggins; Destin L. Mizelle; Brittany Miller-Roenigk; Candice N. Hargons; Danielle Stevens-Watkins

doi:10.1177/29767342251352271

Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Rayven L. Peterson, Mona Goggins, Destin L. Mizelle, Brittany Miller-Roenigk, Candice N. Hargons, Danielle Stevens-Watkins

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	193-199
Number of pages	7
Journal	Substance Use and Addiction Journal
Volume	47
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1177/29767342251352271
State	Published - Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 by AMERSA, Inc. (Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction)

Funding

The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: Research reported in this manuscript was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA: R01-DA049333; PI: Danielle Stevens-Watkins). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Funders	Funder number
National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute on Drug Abuse	R01-DA049333

Keywords

African Americans
drug use
naloxone
opioids

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Psychiatry and Mental health

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1177/29767342251352271

Cite this

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title = "Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians",

abstract = "Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12\%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans{\textquoteright} hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.",

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author = "Peterson, \{Rayven L.\} and Mona Goggins and Mizelle, \{Destin L.\} and Brittany Miller-Roenigk and Hargons, \{Candice N.\} and Danielle Stevens-Watkins",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 by AMERSA, Inc. (Association for Multidisciplinary Education and Research in Substance use and Addiction)",

year = "2026",

month = jan,

doi = "10.1177/29767342251352271",

language = "English",

volume = "47",

pages = "193--199",

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AU - Peterson, Rayven L.

AU - Goggins, Mona

AU - Mizelle, Destin L.

AU - Miller-Roenigk, Brittany

AU - Hargons, Candice N.

AU - Stevens-Watkins, Danielle

PY - 2026/1

Y1 - 2026/1

N2 - Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

AB - Background: Opioid-involved overdose fatalities among African Americans continue to rise. The current study examines African Americans who reported use of opioids in the past 6 months and declined overdose education and free naloxone. Method: Eligible participants included African American Kentuckians who used opioids in the past 6 months and consented to a larger study examining their opioid use. This paper qualitatively explored their reasons for declining overdose education and naloxone using an adjusted and inductive application of structural tabular thematic analysis. Results: Out of 588 participants, 70 (12%) declined naloxone: the most cited reason for declining naloxone was already possessing the medication. Additional reasons range from not needing or wanting naloxone to no longer using opioids. Conclusions: The findings suggest that African Americans’ hesitancy to carry naloxone can be due to pervasive structural issues. Despite these findings, there remain disproportionate drug treatment rates and mortality from overdose among African Americans.

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Brief Report: Naloxone Decline Among African American Kentuckians

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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