NY Drug Deaths Drop Slightly, But Racial Disparities Deepen. Black Residents Are Hit Hardest.
17th October 2024
For the first time in four years, New York City did not break a new record for drug overdose deaths in 2023, according to new city data released Thursday.
But while overdose deaths are down among some groups of New Yorkers, the figures show there’s been little progress in the hardest-hit communities. Black New Yorkers are still recording high rates of overdose deaths and rates increased in some low-income communities, according to city data, which advocates say is a stark reminder that these communities need more resources.
The city recorded 3,046 overdose deaths in 2023, down 1% from the previous year’s 3,070, according to the data. About 100 fewer white New Yorkers died of accidental drug overdoses in 2023 than in 2022, and the overdose death rate dropped 9% in the wealthiest city neighborhoods.
To be clear, these ‘overdose deaths’ are happening to PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTARILY TAKE ILLEGAL DRUGS. A drug overdose is not like rain, which droppeth on the just and the unjust alike; IT IS THE CONSEQUENCE OF A CHOICE. If a ‘community’ is ‘hardest-hit’, IT IS BECAUSE THAT COMMUNITY IS CHOCK FULL O’ DRUG USERS. This is like saying that a guy who puts a gun to his head is ‘hardest-hit’. This is not a ‘stark reminder that these communities need more resources’; it is a reminder that these ‘communities’ need FEWER DRUG USERS. Additional ‘resources’ will merely GO TO BUY MORE DRUGS, unless the root cause of the problem is addressed, which is ILLEGAL DRUG USE.
Unbelievable.