Addiction Problems Among Hispanic In USA: The Facts

The Latino community are suffering more than almost any other when it comes to the drug epidemic going on in the USA.

There’s an opioid crisis that is ripping through communities and it’s requiring more and more people to get help. It’s a similar story worldwide, with treatment centres such as UKAT seeing more people come through the doors addicted to opioids and prescription drugs than ever before.

What is going on in the USA is filtering into the rest of the world and it’s the Latino community that appears to be among the highest sufferers.

Here are the facts:

Opioid abuse is higher in Latino youths than other groups

A number of studies have found that Latinos in their late teens are more likely to use drugs than other racial or ethnic groups of a similar age.

It’s estimated that there’s a 14% increase in the young Latino community taking drugs compared to other ethnicities, with that figure 15.1% when it comes to opioid misuse.

These problems are often occurring after moving to the USA

For the Latino community moving into the USA, it’s usually after they have arrived that they begin to encounter problems with drug misuse.

Pierluigi Mancini, who directs the National Hispanic and Latino ATTC said that research found that within five years Latinos are partaking in the US social norms, which includes getting into drugs such as marijuana, opioids and cocaine.

Mental health problems also appear after moving to the USA

Those suffering with mental health problems are more likely to take drugs to try and cope, and there are clear patterns between moving to the US and developing such problems as the Latino community tries to adapt to a new way of life.

Mancini said of the problem, “Time is money, and you have these messages of discipline when it comes to time and the stressors of buying a home, buying a car, and you buy things on credit. Some of these things do not exist in places where many immigrant Latinos come from. People here end up getting more stressed because of that.”

Language barriers are preventing help

There is a lack of Latino healthcare workers at present which is causing a problem when it comes to those struggling getting help. This is largely down to the language barrier.

Often when people are in crisis, they return back to their mother tongue, and when the healthcare system can’t understand that, it’s not an ideal scenario for those suffering with addiction, mental health problems, and suicidal thoughts.