In his 1993 book, “A Torchlight for America,” the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan states that what the Nation of Islam offers is an example when it comes to the problem of the country’s drug crises.
“We are an example for America. If America sincerely wants to rid the society of the scourge of drugs, it should let us help,” the Minister writes in the chapter “Fighting Crime” under the section “The War on Drugs.”
For decades, the Teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad have helped former drug addicts, drug users and even drug sellers to turn their lives around. America’s addiction to illegal and “legal” drugs is an ongoing challenge.
Opioid (fentanyl) addiction is a daily struggle of dependence and a desperate search for dope for those struggling with drug use. For many addicts, every thought and action revolves around the next high and, unfortunately, friends and family suffer as addiction takes priority for their loved one.
If addicts do not find the drugs their body is demanding, they experience withdrawal symptoms such as nausea, sweating, and muscle cramps. Over time, they need more and more of the drug to achieve the initial high, increasing the risk of overdose.
While overdoses are on the rise, access to naloxone, known as Narcan, has saved numerous lives, except if you’re Black. A recent Pennsylvania study found that Black people who died from opioid overdoses were half as likely as White people to receive the lifesaving Narcan.
The study also found that Black overdose deaths in Pennsylvania increased by more than 50 percent between 2019 and 2021, compared with no change in White overdose deaths.
A representative with the Pennsylvania Department of Health responded to the media with a statement that explained similar rises in overdose deaths are happening across the country, especially among Black, American Indian and Alaska Native populations.
“There does not appear to be a single reason why rates are increasing for Black populations and holding steady among White populations,” the statement reads. “The volatile and rapidly changing drug supply certainly has been a challenge as fentanyl is now found in every type of drug.
Inequities in terms of treatment for substance abuse disorder may also play a factor as White people are more likely to have better access to the most evidence-based treatments and are more likely to stay in treatment,” the statement continued.
The CDC reported that in 2020, overdose death rates (number of drug overdose deaths per 100,000 people) increased 44 percent for Black people and 39 percent for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) people, compared with 2019, according to a new CDC Vital Signs report with drug overdose data from 25 states and the District of Columbia.
While a history of substance use was common among these groups, according to the CDC, a history of receiving substance use treatment was not. Only about one in every 10 AI/AN and Latinos had reportedly received substance use treatment; evidence of treatment was even lower for Black people (1 in every 12).
A recent study in the medical journal Addiction confirmed nationwide what the Pennsylvania study found, that from 2019 to 2021, Black overdose deaths had approximately 50 percent to 60 percent lower odds of receiving Narcan than White overdose deaths, and overdose death rates during this period were highest among Black people.
According to the study, “Naloxone distribution strategies should be thoughtfully and purposefully implemented to guarantee its availability, such that anyone who suffers an overdose has an equal chance of survival, irrespective of their racial or ethnic background.”
Baltimore is considered the U.S. overdose capital. Fentanyl has swamped the city and deaths have reached a rate never before seen in a major American city. Since 2013, Baltimore’s fatal overdose rate has quadrupled.
In the past six years, nearly 6,000 people died. The death rate from 2018 to 2022 was almost double that of any other large city and any other part of the country
during the crack, methamphetamine, or prescription pill crises.
Fentanyl overdoses have hit Baltimore’s middle-aged Black men, aged 55 to 70 the hardest. They are almost a forgotten generation. Although they make up only seven percent of the city’s population, Black men are nearly 30 percent of drug-related fatalities.
This is more than 20 times the rate of the rest of the nation. Surprisingly, Black men in Baltimore have greater chances of death from an overdose than all types of cancer or COVID-19 when it was raging. Drugs are running neck and neck with heart disease as leading killers.
Abenaa Jones, a Penn State assistant professor, has researched racial differences in overdose response training. This included whether clients and non-clients of Baltimore’s syringe service program used the Narcan they received.
Her research found that decreased access to substance abuse treatment is a likely factor in the growing number of overdose deaths among Black populations. She also believes the criminal justice system, and its unequal treatment of Black people, also plays a role.
“We know that the intersection of criminal justice and substance use, and criminalization of drug use and how that disproportionately impacts minorities, can limit the accessibility of harm reduction services to racial-ethnic minorities for fear of harassment by police for drug paraphernalia,” Dr. Jones explained in an interview with NPR in June.
Arrest concerns drive many drug users to use in seclusion. “That may protect you from criminal legal involvement, but then in the event of an overdose, you may not have someone to help you,” she said. “So it could be that by the time the EMS come, it’s been too long for them to even consider administering naloxone.”
In “A Torchlight for America,” Minister Farrakhan explains that the most violent crime on the streets is drug related. At the time of the book’s publication, $12 billion was allocated in 1992 to fight the war on drugs, according to former U.S. President George H.W. Bush’s Budget for Fiscal Year 1993, the Minister explained.
“The bulk of the money was spent on law enforcement, and about a third went to treatment and prevention,” Minister Farrakhan wrote in the chapter “Fighting Crime” under the section “The War on Drugs.”
“According to the Wall Street Journal, a survey in California revealed that where 70 percent of people sent to prison for drug offenses were Black, more than 63 percent of public drug treatment slots went to Whites. Again, racism at work,” Minister Farrakhan wrote.
Three decades after the release of the Minister’s book, it is more of the same. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, the federal drug control budget for fiscal year 2022 was $39 billion. However, by many accounts, America’s five decade long “war on drugs” has been a failure when it comes to curbing trafficking, usage and treatment.
In his book, the Minister wrote about the success Muslim-owned security companies had in ridding the illegal drug traffic in Washington, D.C. notorious Mayfair Mansions housing complex in the early 1990s. It was known as an “open air drug market.”
“Ridding Mayfair Mansions in Washington, D.C. of dope traffic and rehabilitating the addicts is a success story of The Nation of Islam, at no cost to the country.
We have a Dopebusters program that has been very successful and is applauded by the communities in which the Dopebusters or Nation of Islam security are present. How is it that with nothing we can do what the government has not been able to do with $12 billion?” Minister Farrakhan wrote.
“We are an example for America. If America sincerely wants to rid the society of the scourge of drugs, it should let us help. It only makes sense to follow what works, and fund what works.”
Final Call staff contributed to this report.
