ArticleHealth & justice2025
An experimental investigation of federal messaging on public support for enforcement- and treatment-based approaches for opioid overdose prevention in South Carolina.
Article in Health & justice, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundAs the opioid overdose crisis continues to produce excessive morbidity and mortality in the United States, government agencies have applied various approaches to prevent overdoses, including law-enforcement efforts (e.g., arresting people who use drugs, interrupting drug traffickers, etc.) and treatment-based approaches (e.g., naloxone, medications for opioid use disorder, etc.). Public perception and support of these approaches are relevant for informing policy, allocating resources, and effectively implementing community interventions to prevent drug-related harms.
methodsUsing an embedded informational survey design, we experimentally assessed whether public support for strategies to prevent overdose in South Carolina is influenced by language from federal agencies describing treatment- or enforcement-based approaches. Respondents were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) enforcement -based approach, (2) treatment-based approach, or (3) the control condition. Those assigned to experimental groups were presented with statistics on drug overdose deaths, followed by an informational prompt with language about overdose prevention approaches from either DEA (enforcement) or NIH (treatment), while the control group received no informational prompt.
resultsFindings from a sample of 4,675 respondents indicated that those assigned the DEA prompt were significantly more likely to support enforcement-based approaches in arresting drug traffickers and people who use drugs (AME = 0.060, p < 0.001). On the other hand, those assigned to the NIH prompt were significantly more likely to agree that both law enforcement (AME = 0.065, p < 0.0001) and clinicians (AME = 0.044, p < 0.05) are capable of preventing drug overdose deaths.
conclusionsThese findings shed light on public perceptions of approaches to addressing the opioid epidemic and limited modifiability when presented with language from federal agencies. This may inform future research, practice, and/or policy aiming to maintain public safety while also providing treatment options to people who use drugs in order to reduce overdose deaths.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.