Waking Up from Dreamland: Opioid Addiction Precipitance and Support for Redistributive Drug Treatment.

ABSTRACT: Motivated by the historical components of the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic, this study examines how public support for redistributive drug treatment changes with awareness that someone's opioid addiction started with a legally acquired prescription. Using different versions of a vignette, we vary in a randomized design whether someone's addiction to painkillers started with a legally acquired prescription or with the decision to take pills from a friend. After reading the vignette, participants expressed their level of support for a policy that uses income redistribution to fund a program that provides the person in the vignette with drug treatment. We find that participants are less likely to support redistributive drug treatment when a prescription precipitates the addiction. The results

SUBMITTER: Chavanne D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7491743 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature