Nearly one in three Americans reported knowing someone who died from a drug overdose, new research finds.
The survey, conducted by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, found that 32% of people knew someone who died from a drug overdose. Those who reported knowing someone who died due to drug use were also more likely to support policies aimed at reducing drug use, according to the survey.
The search results, Published Friday in the JAMA Network, suggest that one way to enact greater addiction policy changes may be to mobilize those who have lost someone to drug addiction, the researchers wrote.
Experts also note that opioids — often prescribed by doctors to treat pain — especially with the proliferation of powerful synthetic drugs like fentanyl and polysubstance, have accelerated the rising rate of overdose deaths in recent years.
Since 1999, more than 1 million people have died from drug overdoses in the United States, and while studies are still being conducted into the reasoning, researchers noted that not much is known about the impacts on the deceased’s family or friends.
The research also found that personal loss from overdose was more prevalent among lower income groups, but did not differ greatly across political parties.
Nearly 30% of Democrats said they had lost someone to an overdose, while 33% of Republicans and 34% of independents said the same.
“This cross-sectional study found that 32% of U.S. adults reported knowing someone who died of a drug overdose and that personal loss from overdose was associated with greater odds of endorsing addiction as an important political issue,” the researchers wrote. “The findings suggest that mobilizing this group could be a path to facilitating greater political change.”
A similar study examined overdose deaths from 2011 to 2021 and estimates that more than 321,000 children in the U.S. have lost a parent to a drug overdose.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdose deaths in the U.S. fell slightly in 2023, the first annual decrease in overdose deaths since 2018. Still, the overall number of deaths is extremely high. , with more than 107,000 people dying in 2023 due to excessive drug use.
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