AASTEC recently produced and disseminated a new fact sheet on the impact of the opioid crisis among Native American communities. Key findings demonstrate that overdose deaths due to any type of opioid use have been on the rise among Native Americans since 2000.

 

The current opioid-related overdose death rate for Native Americans nationwide is 13.7 deaths per 100,000 population, which exceeds the national rate of 13.1 per 100,000.

 

The opioid overdose death rate among Native American males significantly exceeds the rate among Native American females (10.0 per 100,000 vs. 7.0 per 100,000). Among youth, more than 1 in 10 Native American high school students in New Mexico (11%) used a prescription pain medication without a doctor’s order in the past 30 days, and high school students who used a prescription pain medication also used heroin in the past 30 days (22%).

The fact sheet concludes with strategies that can be adopted at the individual, family and community level to reduce the harmful impact of opioids.

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