Diego considers himself lucky.
The 49-year-old man, who is only being identified by his first name for reasons of privacy, thinks of some dark times in his life – all associated with drugs.
He said his brothers introduced him to narcotics when he was 12 and lived in his hometown, Springfield, Massachusetts. When he was 17, said Diego, who is of Puerto Rican descent, not only used drugs, but also trafficked. He said the drugs plunged him into a spiral of dependence, breaking his family relationships and taking him to prison several times.
But at least the drugs didn’t kill him, he said with relief during a telephone interview.
“I think I’m lucky. I lost a nephew in December 2020. I lost two of my four brothers, one in 2008 and one in 2018. All due to an overdose, “he said.” But I don’t have to be my brother or nephew. “
Diego spoke to Noticias Telemundo from Casa Esperanza, a behavioral health center based in Boston and one of the few centers in the US that offer detox and mental health services in Spanish.
The federal government’s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, or SAMHSA, described the issue of uncontrolled use of opioids in the Latin community as a “matter of urgency” in a special report released in 2020.
With the coronavirus pandemic – and the confinement, depression and financial stress it caused – opioid use has skyrocketed in the country, studies have found. Overdose deaths have increased by a historic 16.9 percent nationally, according to a recent report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He cited more than 81,000 deaths in the 12 months ending May 2020 – the highest number of overdose deaths in a 12-month period in the history of the United States and one of the factors that led to a one-year reduction in life expectancy in the United States. country, something that hasn’t happened so dramatically since World War II.
The CDC does not yet have complete data on deaths from overdose in the months after May 2020, but as the pandemic continues, experts fear that the number of deaths from opioid abuse during the global health emergency will be much higher.
Some states have seen a worrying increase in cases among Latinos.
Increase in deaths of Latinos
In Maryland, the Opioid Operational Command Center reported that from January to September 2020, opioid-related deaths increased 16% among non-Hispanic whites and 13% among non-Hispanic blacks – while Latinos saw an increase of 27, 3%.
There is still no complete data on which drugs caused the highest number of overdose deaths in 2020, but fentanyl and methamphetamine (or a mixture of the two) appear to have been the most common narcotics behind the deaths last year. This may be a response to the fact that heroin imports were affected by the pandemic, while the other two opioids continued to circulate normally within the country.
“We Hispanics are the ones who die,” said Diego. At times, he finds it hard to believe that he has managed to enter a recovery program like Casa Esperanza, where demand is high and growing.
“The cases we are receiving during the pandemic are very high, twice as much [the usual], ”Said Orlando Colón, 55, who runs Casa Esperanza’s residential men’s recovery program, offering six to nine months of treatment for patients in need of continued care.
“Unfortunately, now we are full. When one of the 50 beds we have is empty, we call the next one on the list ”, he said. Those who cannot apply and cannot afford separate housing end up in shelters or on the street, where it is common to continue using drugs.
Colón said it is even more difficult for immigrants, especially those who do not have legal status, who are sometimes very afraid of getting help. The inability to access needed help in a timely manner contributes to worsening addiction problems and increases the chances of death from overdoses.
The effects multiply for the most vulnerable
The coronavirus outbreak affected people suffering from addiction in several ways, said Colón.
“Many asked for help from relatives, but family members are afraid to open their doors because of the pandemic,” he said. Face-to-face counseling services were affected by restrictions on group meetings. “Before, there was direct advice, but now a lot of that is on Zoom and it gets more difficult.”
Before entering the recovery program, Diego said, he served time in prison for a drug-related case. He said that those with mental health problems in prison suffered because of the pandemic; weekly sessions with a specialist, for example, were interrupted, except in an emergency.
“They also removed all study, work and visitation programs,” said Diego. Drug addicts who have been released from prison and have no cell phone or computer are having a harder time accessing digital platforms to receive vital help.
Colón, who has worked at the center for 14 years, said that depression and economic stress contribute to addiction problems. Among immigrants, the trauma of migration, fear of deportation and the lack of an extensive family network are additional factors.
Latin adults experienced more depression and suicidal thoughts than other groups during the pandemic, according to a CDC report published in February.
Stress about basic needs
Latinos surveyed reported “a higher prevalence of psychosocial stress related to lack of food or stable housing than adults in other racial and ethnic groups,” according to the CDC, as the pandemic affects many Hispanic families and workers.
Symptoms of depression were reported 59 percent more often by Latino adults (40.3 percent) than by non-Hispanic whites (25.3 percent), according to the report. Nearly 37 percent of Hispanics interviewed reported an increase in substance use or reported that they started using, compared to less than 16 percent for whites and blacks.
“In public health, what we see most often is that when economic problems worsen, when people are unemployed and there is a lot of stress – something that has worsened for Latinos with the pandemic – this obviously increases the use of alcohol and drugs,” stated. Dr. Lisa Fortuna, head of the psychiatry department at San Francisco General Hospital, told Noticias Telemundo.
“For those who have had problems with drugs, relapses have increased because people try to deal with stress. This created even more problems because it brought more depression, emotional difficulties and even physical illnesses, “she said.
Stigma persists
In his experience in treating Latino patients with depression, anxiety and addiction problems, Fortuna said that a stigma persists in seeking help and that a lack of help often leads to substance use and abuse.
“Many do not publicly acknowledge that they suffer from depression or anxiety, for fear of being called crazy or weak, and even less recognize that they are consuming alcohol or drugs,” she said.
Sometimes, she said, Latinos seek help through religious institutions, rather than seeking professional help. But she cautions that while studies say that having faith or following a religion can make people less susceptible to becoming depressed or thinking about suicide, “this is not a complete prevention against depression”.
Before the coronavirus arrived, the United States was already suffering from the most deadly opioid overdose epidemic in its history. The overdose mortality rate among the national population has increased dramatically in recent years.
In 2019, 71,000 Americans died from substance abuse and the country declared overdose deaths a national public health emergency.
In the late 1990s, the increase in overdose deaths was related to the abuse of prescribed analgesic opioids, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, codeine, morphine and others.
In the 2000s, cheaper and deadly illegal drugs, such as heroin and fentanyl, gained ground. In 2015, heroin had caused more deaths than prescription painkillers or other drugs. And in 2016, fentanyl and other similar pills claimed more lives.
About 4 percent of the Latin American population abuses opioids, and that includes people as young as 12, according to SAMHSA.
Fortuna said that many doctors across the country are calling for a reform of the primary health care system so that patients undergoing a physical check-up can receive mental health counseling right there. She thinks it would make a difference between those who would not voluntarily go to a mental health professional.
“There is a movement in the United States to integrate the two, mental health and physical health. In fact, this is already happening in many clinics at the federal level, ”she says.
Amid challenges, “I see a good future”
SAMHSA warns in its 2020 report that bilingual behavioral health professionals are in high demand because of their small number. This scarcity remains an important barrier to the provision of prevention, treatment and recovery programs for many Latinos.
Colón, from Casa Esperanza, said it was a challenge to keep someone away from drugs. Many who use their services end up relapsing or dying from overdoses.
“If 10 customers complete the program and leave, eight of them come back in search of the service,” he said. This is at best, as many die from overdoses.
Others manage to get out of the black hole of addiction and regain life. Many of them ended up working at Casa Esperanza, where they were once patient. “Of our 11 recovery specialists, eight were customers. The fact that they want to continue working with us makes us proud, because it makes us think that we did things well, “said Colón.
Diego hopes to work as a mechanic when he finishes his recovery. He wants to visit schools and tell teenagers to avoid the life he started at their age.
“I see a good future for me. Many of the counselors here have gone through this program and it gives me hope that it can be done, “he said.” I have to work on my recovery, deal with my addiction. That is the main thing is my life. I know that in this program they will help me a lot. They are already doing this. “
An earlier version of this article was originally published in Noticias Telemundo.
follow Latin NBC on the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.