via Flickr
Wendy Williams has been open about her past issues with cocaine addiction. After returning to her show after a two-month break, she made a megawatt announcement: “[F]or some time now, and even today and beyond, I have been living in a sober house.”
Sober living homes are group homes that are drug and alcohol-free to help those with substance use disorders transition back into the community.
But Williams is definitely not the only one struggling with substance use disorders (SUDs). In 2017, 6.8% of Black people struggled with SUDs, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Even more, the opioid epidemic, which has gotten so much attention for its prevalence in rural America, has been silently spreading to Black communities 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.”
Black men and women are dying from dangerous substances, like fentanyl and heroin, while SUDs are still stigmatized and neglected. And we have to do better when it comes to helping those in our community who are struggling with addiction. Period.