Public Support for the Harm Reduction Strategies for Opioids Moderate

By Scott Douglas Jacobsen

*HealthDay News* reported the stigma around opioid use in Canada. In particular, the ways in which the opioids used by the public and the harm reduction tactics to help with the crisis are linked to the stigmatizing attitudes of them.

That is to say, those who have the stigmas against the use of opioids tend to have the lower levels of support for at least two harm reduction strategies. This is reportage based on a study published this month in the journal of Preventive Medicine.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health’s Dr. Emma E. McGinty and colleagues conducted an online survey. It had 1,004 people. It was nationally representative of the population of the U.S. adults.

The purpose was to “examine support for two evidence-based harm reduction strategies for combating the opioid epidemic, as well as attitudes to those who use opioids. Respondents’ support for legalizing safe consumption sites and syringe service programs in their communities were measured,” the article stated.

According to the reportage, the researchers found between 29% of the respondents have support for the licit safe consumption site and 39% have support for the syringe services. There were “high levels” of stigma against those who use opioids.

The article stated, “16 and 28 percent were willing to have a person using opioids marry into their family and to have a person using opioids start working closely with them on a job, respectively. Persons using opioids were rated as deserving (versus worthless) and strong (versus weak) by 27 and 10 percent of respondents, respectively.”

In sum, a correlation exists between lower support for legal safe consumption sites and syringe service programs with the stigmatizing attitudes.

Member-at-Large/Writer

(Last Update: September 28, 2016)

Scott Douglas Jacobsen researches and presents independent panels, papers, and posters, and with varied research labs and groups, and part-time in landscaping (lifting, mowing, and raking) and gardening (digging, planting, and weeding). He is the Founder of *In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal and In-Sight Publishing*. UCI Ethics Center awarded him with the distinction of Francisco Ayala Scholar (2014) for mentoring, presenting, researching, and writing. If you want to contact Scott, you may inquire or comment through e-mail: Scott.D.Jacobsen@Gmail.com.

He published in American Enterprise Institute, Annaborgia, Conatus News, Earth Skin & Eden, Fresh Start Recovery Centre, Gordon Neighbourhood House, Huffington Post, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Jolly Dragons, Kwantlen Polytechnic University Psychology Department, La Petite Mort, Learning Analytics Research Group, Lifespan Cognition Psychology Lab, Lost in Samara, Marijuana Party of Canada, MomMandy, Noesis: The Journal of the Mega Society, Piece of Mind, Production Mode, Synapse, TeenFinancial, The Peak, The Ubyssey, The Voice Magazine, Transformative Dialogues, Treasure Box Kids, Trusted Clothes.

Originally published at cssdp.org on June 13, 2018.