Passive exposure to opioid crisis information and public attitudes: Effects on local policy support, discrimination, and stigma in a United States national survey

Objective

To examine associations between passive exposure to opioid crisis information and public attitudes toward opioid use disorder (OUD) policies and stigma among United States (US) adults.

Methods

A nationally representative survey of 6543 US adults was conducted from December 2023 to January 2024. Participants reported passive exposure to opioid crisis information from various sources. Outcome measures included preferences for national and local harm-reduction policies, discriminatory practices, carceral approaches, and OUD stigma. Multivariable regression analyses were performed, controlling for demographic factors.

Results

Over half (n = 3863, 59.4 %) of participants reported passive exposure to opioid crisis information. Exposure from medical professionals (b = 0.143, p = 0.001), family/friends (b = 0.118, p = 0.013), print media (b = 0.135, p = 0.019), and web searches (b = 0.164, p = 0.002) was associated with increased support for local harm-reduction policies. Social media exposure was negatively associated with support for discriminatory practices (b = −0.101, p = 0.043). Exposure from medical professionals was negatively associated with OUD stigma (b = −0.090, p = 0.014). No significant associations were found between information exposure and support for national harm-reduction policies or carceral approaches.

Conclusions

Despite widespread media coverage of the opioid crisis, passive information exposure was only associated with increased support for local, not national, harm-reduction policies. The modest exposure rate (59.4 %) suggests an attention gap between information availability and public engagement. The differential effectiveness of information channels suggests that communication strategies emphasizing community-level initiatives and leveraging specific sources like healthcare providers and interpersonal networks may be particularly important for building public support for evidence-based OUD prevention policies.