Overdose Loss Spurs Support for Addiction Policy Reform

Overdose Loss Spurs Support for Addiction Policy Reform
Overdose Loss Spurs Support for Addiction Policy Reform. Credit | Getty images

United States – According to the survey, nearly one-third of Americans, 32 percent in all, said they have lost someone they know to an overdose of drugs.

Support for Policy Reform Grows

Survey research conducted by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health revealed that 32 percent of respondents admitted to having personally witnessed a friend or relative die from a drug overdose. Similarly, the poll also found higher levels of support among respondents who claimed to know someone who has died from drug use towards policies aimed at preventing substance dependence.

The results of the survey published on Friday show that more policy changes might be implemented for addiction through mobilizing people who have lost their loved ones due to drug abuse, the researchers said.

Authorities reported that opioids — drugs that can be prescribed by a physician for pain relief, especially with the current availability of synthetic opioids, including fentanyl and polysubstance — have contributed to the increasing rate of overdose deaths in the past years.

Statistics show that over a million people have died of a drug overdose in the United States of America since the year 1999, and while much research may still be underway in regard to the above reasoning, what became apparent was the fact that the effects on the families and friends of the deceased, for instance, are still unknowns.

But a consistent theme identified in the survey was that personal overdose loss was more common among respondents with lower levels of household income and did not vary significantly by the voter’s identification with either the Democratic or the Republican party, as reported by The Hills.

Socioeconomic Factors Influence Overdose Loss

According to the survey, 29% of the democrats reported that they had lost someone to overdose; 33% of the republicans and 34% of the independents reported the same.

“This cross-sectional study reveals that 32% of US adults have ever known someone who died from a drug overdose, and personal overdose loss is related to more endorsement of the importance of addiction as a public policy,” the authors of the study said, as quoted by CED Foundation. “The study evidence indicates that placing more attention on this group might help increase their mobilization and enhance the policies. ”

Another study investigated overdose fatalities from 2011 to 2021, and based on this, 321,000 children in the United States might have lost a parent to overdose.

From the information gathered from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or CDC, there was a slight decline in US drug overdose deaths in the year 2023, the first time that such deaths have declined since the year 2018. However, the actual figure of fatalities remains steadily high, as more than one hundred and seven thousand people died in 2023 as a consequence of drug overdose.