Hillary Clinton Campaign Begins Drafting Policy Solutions To Heroin Epidemic

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42. Poll finds great awareness — and fear — of opioid abuse

Nearly three-quarters of Massachusetts adults believe heroin use is an extreme or very serious problem in the state, and almost four in 10 adults know someone who has abused prescription painkillers in the last five years, according to a survey by The Boston Globe and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The poll also found that Massachusetts residents are more worried about opioid abuse than are Americans generally, and that more adults here believe prescription drug abuse is getting worse.

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/05/16/opioid-abuse-considered-widespread-serious-poll-finds/GbvBiLJDROWq42850i5UVJ/story.html

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More than 1,000 people in the state are believed to have died from opioid overdoses last year, a 33 percent increase over 2012.
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The surveys also found that Massachusetts residents are more aggressive than the rest of the country in pushing for tools to help addicts, both at the time of overdose and in treatment afterward.

Massachusetts adults showed greater support for making naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses, available to the public, and a greater willingess to require insurers to cover treatment for drug addiction.

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“We have this dichotomy where people recognize that overprescribing is one of the problems, but when you ask if there should be more regulation, people say no,” Blendon said.

I am onboard with anyone who recognizes that this is an important problem that needs to be dealt with and also recognize that this is getting more visibility because there has been an increase in middle/upper class opiate/heroin addicts - especially among late teen-college kids.