Here is a very recent paper on views and perspectives among Americans. What do we know about public understanding in other countries?
Public Views About Opioid Overdose and People With Opioid Use Disorder
JAMA Network Open 2026
McGinty E et al
https://watermark02.silverchair.com/mcginty_2026_oi_251443_1767982489.60...
KEY POINTS
Question: How do US adults view the severity of the opioid overdose problem, responsibility for solving it, and people experiencing opioid addiction, and do views differ by political ideology?
Findings: In this survey study of 1552 US adults, more than 70% of survey respondents viewed opioid overdose as serious and identified people who use opioids and pharmaceutical companies as most responsible for solutions; by ideology, 65% or more of conservatives,
moderates, and liberals shared these views. Overall, 38% and 58% were unwilling to have a person with opioid addiction as a neighbor or marry into their family, respectively.
Meaning: These findings suggest that the US public continues to view opioid overdose as a serious and stigmatized condition.
EXTRACTS
65% or more of conservatives, moderates, and liberals surveyed viewed opioid overdose as a serious problem and identified people who use opioids and pharmaceutical companies as responsible for solutions.
More than 80% of respondents reported that people who use opioids are responsible for solving the overdose problem
COMMENT (NPW): The finding that 'More than 80% of respondents reported that people who use opioids are responsible for solving the overdose problem' is an odd perspective and is unexplained in the text. Does it suggest that people who use opioids are reckless and should be more careful? If so, this exposes an ignorance of the issue. More tenable is that 73% viewed pharmaceutical companies as responsible for reducing opioid overdoses. But this too is questionable because the vast majority of opioid overdose deaths in the United States are due to illegal drugs, not prescription drugs. Pharma companies may be partially responsible for the overuse of prescription drugs, but they can have little impact on the use of illegal drugs.
Best wishes, Neil
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org