The Opioid Crisis Is Surging In Black, Urban Communities

Dr. Chapman in his office at the end of the day on Friday. He waits for the last patient to come in, not wanting them to have to spend the weekend without their medication. The walls are covered with awards, certificates, newspaper clippings and family photos.

Claire Harbage / NPR

The current drug addiction crisis began in rural America, but it’s quickly spreading to urban areas and into the African-American population in cities across the country.

“It’s a frightening time,” says Dr. Edwin Chapman, who specializes in drug addiction in Washington, D.C., “because the urban African-American community is dying now at a faster rate than the epidemic in the suburbs and rural areas.”

Chapman is on the front line of the opioid epidemic crippling his community in the Northeast section of Washington. He heads the Medical Home Development Group, a clinic specializing in addiction medicine.