[FormerACLUmember]

Explanation: Hospital ERs in black areas are endlessly abused by narcotics addicts. These ERs are less likely to immediately give narcotics.

[KarlInOhio]

2nd possible explanation: Blacks are more likely to use the ER as the first medical provider. If I go to the emergency room it's because the pain is killing me. If it kind of hurts, I'll go to my doctor and get referred to the non-emergency hospital admission for treatment.

If you go to the emergency room for both screaming agony and kind-of-hurts, you're less likely to get narcotics than if you only show up for screaming agony.

[neverdem]

Explanation: Hospital ERs in black areas are endlessly abused by narcotics addicts. These ERs are less likely to immediately give narcotics.

I'd like to agree, but according to the abstract: "Differential prescribing by race/ethnicity was evident for all types of pain visits, was more pronounced with increasing pain severity, and was detectable for long-bone fracture and nephrolithiasis as well as among children."

[GovernmentShrinker]

Exactly. If they re-did the study, but classified the patients according to history of arrests, convictions and treatment for drug abuse, rather than by race, the discrepancy would disappear (and maybe even reverse).