“Drug Use with Racism…The Reason I Wanted to Do This Study”: Perceptions of Race and Racism’s Impact on Drug Use among Black Americans Using Opioids

Natalie Malone; Gabriella R. Pitcher; Destin L. Mizelle; Paris Wheeler; Brittany Miller-Roenigk; Kendall A. McCleod; Mekaila Keeling; Tristan Ntego; Candice N Hargons; Danelle Stevens-Watkins

doi:10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371

“Drug Use with Racism…The Reason I Wanted to Do This Study”: Perceptions of Race and Racism’s Impact on Drug Use among Black Americans Using Opioids

Natalie Malone
, Gabriella R. Pitcher
, Destin L. Mizelle
, Paris Wheeler
, Brittany Miller-Roenigk
, Kendall A. McCleod
, Mekaila Keeling
, Tristan Ntego
, Candice N Hargons
, Danelle Stevens-Watkins

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

Abstract

Background: Several studies link racism with drug use disparities among systemically marginalized populations. However, few invite Black Americans to discuss how they perceive racism’s impact on their drug use. Objectives: To examine qualitative accounts from N=40 Black adults reporting non-medical prescription opioid use on their experiences of racism and drug use. Results: A deductive structural tabular thematic analysis informed by Jones’s (2000) levels of racism resulted in two themes: (a) Experiences of Racism (subthemes: Denying Experiences of Racism and Endorsing Experiences of Racism) and (b) Race, Racism, and Drug Use (subthemes: Rejecting Race and Racism’s Impact on Drugs and Rejecting Race and Racism’s Impact on Drugs). Conclusions: Participants provided examples of internalized, personally mediated, and institutionalized racism associated with their drug use. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed. Specifically, implications detail how to center Black Americans and demonstrate anti-racism when developing treatment strategies and drug policies.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	265-275
Number of pages	11
Journal	Substance Use and Misuse
Volume	60
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371
State	Published - 2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse under Grant R01-DA049333 (PI: Danelle Stevens-Watkins). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the NIDA.

Funders

Funder number

Author National Institute on Drug Abuse DA031791 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse DA006634 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA026117 Mark J Ferris National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism AA028162 Elizabeth G Pitts National Institute of General Medical Sciences GM102773 Elizabeth G Pitts Peter McManus Charitable Trust Mark J Ferris National Institute on Drug Abuse

R01-DA049333

UN SDGs

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

SDG 3 Good Health and Well-being

Keywords

Black adults
opioids
race/ethnicity
racism

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Medicine (miscellaneous)
Health(social science)
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Psychiatry and Mental health

Access to Document

10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371

Cite this

Malone, N., Pitcher, G. R., Mizelle, D. L., Wheeler, P., Miller-Roenigk, B., McCleod, K. A., Keeling, M., Ntego, T., Hargons, CN., & Stevens-Watkins, D. (2025). “Drug Use with Racism…The Reason I Wanted to Do This Study”: Perceptions of Race and Racism’s Impact on Drug Use among Black Americans Using Opioids. Substance Use and Misuse, 60(2), 265-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371

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abstract = "Background: Several studies link racism with drug use disparities among systemically marginalized populations. However, few invite Black Americans to discuss how they perceive racism{\textquoteright}s impact on their drug use. Objectives: To examine qualitative accounts from N=40 Black adults reporting non-medical prescription opioid use on their experiences of racism and drug use. Results: A deductive structural tabular thematic analysis informed by Jones{\textquoteright}s (2000) levels of racism resulted in two themes: (a) Experiences of Racism (subthemes: Denying Experiences of Racism and Endorsing Experiences of Racism) and (b) Race, Racism, and Drug Use (subthemes: Rejecting Race and Racism{\textquoteright}s Impact on Drugs and Rejecting Race and Racism{\textquoteright}s Impact on Drugs). Conclusions: Participants provided examples of internalized, personally mediated, and institutionalized racism associated with their drug use. Implications for policy, practice, and research are discussed. Specifically, implications detail how to center Black Americans and demonstrate anti-racism when developing treatment strategies and drug policies.",

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doi = "10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371",

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Malone, N, Pitcher, GR, Mizelle, DL, Wheeler, P, Miller-Roenigk, B, McCleod, KA, Keeling, M, Ntego, T, Hargons, CN & Stevens-Watkins, D 2025, '“Drug Use with Racism…The Reason I Wanted to Do This Study”: Perceptions of Race and Racism’s Impact on Drug Use among Black Americans Using Opioids', Substance Use and Misuse, vol. 60, no. 2, pp. 265-275. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2024.2423371

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