Research has long shown that people from UK Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities routinely have problems accessing treatment for substance misuse.
In this article, we will look at what data there is showing the extent of the problem and assess why people from these ethnic groups are not able to access such treatments.
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According to 2011 national census data, 14% of the UK population is described as BAME.
The last government report (p276) to look at drug misuse by ethnicity was in 2014, thanks to changing priorities in the way drug misuse services are funded.
This data showed that illegal drug use among different ethnic groups stood at:
When it came to illegal drug dependence:
As we will discuss later, these headlines are subject to much wider variation in different communities.
For example, both Sikhs and Muslims are both prohibited from consuming alcohol, but for many Sikhs it is a cultural norm to ignore this ordnance, while many members of Muslim communities simply do not drink openly.
The lack of recent government data collection on the matter has impacted the ability of researchers to assess the issues faced by these communities.
This has led to research teams taking different approaches to try to understand the situation.
As such, we will refer to a paper published in 2019 called Rapid evidence review: Drinking problems and interventions in black and minority ethnic communities, conducted by three academics with funding from the charity Alcohol Change UK.
Looking specifically at alcohol misuse, the research team attempted to get an understanding of the problems faced by different ethnic communities.
It also tried to assess what interventions worked for which communities, and what barriers affected them.
Amongst other things the research showed:
These insights are only from certain groups highlighted by the paper, but it does go to show that, for instance, not all black people behave the same due to their varying cultures.
Similarly, someone from China may behave differently to someone from the Punjab, even though both are classed as ‘Asian’ in headline ethnic data collection.
Future mass data collection might look at communities separated either more finely by geographical origin (direct descent Caribbean vs direct descent African for example) or by religious communities, Sikh being different to Muslim for example.
These tighter definitions could help researchers determine what might help specific communities.
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When it comes to White British people, men consume more alcohol and drink more harmfully than women. Similar cultural norms have been found in other communities.
When it came to the gender of the person affected, BAME males often accessed NHS services more frequently than women from the same groups.
This is because, in certain communities, men and women were treated differently.
In some subgroups, women with alcohol misuse problems were sent to another country for forced marriage or treatment to protect the honour of the family involved.
Consequently, while men often drank openly, women were found to drink in isolation.
Amongst all socio-demographic groups, alcohol is consumed in similar quantities.
Those in poverty come to the most harm where it comes to alcohol use.
This paper showed that over 50% of the more than one million admissions to hospitals every year for alcohol-related harm in the UK are from the lowest 20% of society.
Factors related to poverty and alcohol harm include:
These issues make it harder for those with the least income to recover from alcohol and drug-related harm.
The paper showed that different communities would access help for substance misuse problems in different ways.
Christians and Black communities for instance would generally turn to their GP, whilst Sikhs and Hindus would usually turn to their families.
Across all groups, people from BAME communities were least likely to access statutory services.
Among BAME groups, the paper showed:
When it came to fear of communities and family, in both cases that could be of exclusion from their social or religious groups but in other cases, a fear of violence was a real issue.
Communities that have a reputation for ‘looking after their own’ often take action to protect their reputation without recourse to the state as well.
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Though we have shown that among broad-brush ethnic groups there can be extreme disparity from community to community, the lack of careful examination of the difficulties faced can lead to exclusion from a range of statutory and voluntary sector service provisions.
A tighter examination of cultural issues from a national level could provide some groups with better access to substance use support.
The paper we look at has shown that in other countries, community specific approaches have led to better outcomes for those groups.
The UK however doesn’t offer this from its statutory services such as the NHS.
The paper offered four suggestions as to how to better reach certain groups:
By taking a more surgical approach to the issues around race, culture and community, addiction services in the UK have the chance to reaching those who might otherwise not get help.
There is nothing wrong with accepting that the UK has many cultural differences stemming from immigration, and working with those differences will be essential if we want to reach everyone who needs help.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter where someone was born – they still suffer the same when it comes to a substance misuse problem, and they still deserve help.
Get the help you need to overcome addiction by giving our expert team a call today on 0800 140 4690
Boris is our editor-in-chief at Rehab 4 Addiction. Boris is an addiction expert with more than 20 years in the field. His expertise covers a broad of topics relating to addiction, rehab and recovery. Boris is an addiction therapist and assists in the alcohol detox and rehab process. Boris has been featured on a variety of websites, including the BBC, Verywell Mind and Healthline. You can connect with Boris online at LinkedIn or X.com.
