Cocaine Deaths on the Rise Among Black Americans

Cocaine deaths are increasing, particularly among non-Hispanic black Americans, The New York Times reports.

Cocaine, the number-two killer among illegal drugs, claims the lives of more black Americans than heroin does, the article notes.

A recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine found between 2012 and 2015, the death rate from cocaine overdoses was 7.6 per 100,000 among black men, compared with 5.45 per 100,000 for heroin. Cocaine overdoses exceeded those from heroin among black women as well.

“We have multiple drug problems in the U.S.,” said Keith Humphreys, a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine who advises governments on drug prevention and treatment policies. “We need to focus on more than one drug at a time.”