New Poll Highlights Impact of Opioid Addiction on Families

Nearly 3 in 10 U.S. adults (29%) say they or someone in their family has been addicted to opioids, according to a new poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF).

While opioid addiction affects individuals across all demographic groups, certain trends stand out in the results from the poll, which was conducted July 11-19 and examined addiction to both prescription and illegal opioids. Thirty-three percent of White adults reported that they or a family member had experienced an opioid addiction, compared to 23% of Black adults and 28% of Hispanic adults. This is consistent with other demographic data, including data showing higher rates of opioid overdose deaths among White adults than among adults of other races and ethnicities, although overdose death rates significantly increased among Black and American Indian/Alaska Native populations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The poll results also suggest the opioid crisis has had a disproportionate impact on rural America. Forty-two percent of respondents who live in rural areas reported that they or a family member has experienced an opioid addiction, compared to 30% of respondents who live in suburban areas and 23% of respondents who live in urban areas.

Impact of Opioid Addiction on Families

The effects of substance abuse disorder on relationships and family dynamics are also explored in the poll. Among respondents who said they or a family member had experienced addiction, 76% said the addiction had at least a minor impact on their relationship with family members. Among respondents who said they or a family member had experienced an addiction to prescription opioids, alcohol, or any illegal drug, only 46% reported that they or the family member received treatment for addiction.

Other research has shown that substance abuse is strongly connected to adverse childhood experiences — preventable and potentially traumatic events occurring in childhood that can have lasting mental and physical health impacts. Adverse childhood experiences and substance use disorders also have an intergenerational effect, with childhood exposure to parental substance abuse associated with increased risk for substance abuse later in life.

Opioid and Other Drug Overdose Deaths in Arkansas

Substance abuse disorder increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic, with drug overdose deaths increasing by 30% between 2019 and 2020 and by 15% between 2020 and 2021, according to data compiled by KFF. Arkansas experienced even higher increases during these years, with drug overdose deaths increasing by 41% between 2019 and 2020 and by 17% between 2020 and 2021. In 2021, Arkansas had an all-drug overdose death rate of 22.3 deaths per 100,000 people (637 deaths) and a opioid overdose death rate of 13.7 deaths per 100,000 people (386 deaths). Arkansas’s overdose death rates in 2021 were lower than the national all-drug overdose death rate of 32.4 deaths per 100,000 people (106,699 deaths) and the national opioid overdose death rate of 24.7 deaths per 100,000 people (80,411 deaths).

Provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that there were 591 drug overdose deaths in Arkansas in 2022, suggesting a 7% decrease in overdose deaths compared to 2021. Nationally, there was a 2% decrease in drug overdose deaths for the same time period, according to provisional data.

ACHI has tracked prescriptions of opioids and the overdose-reversal drug naloxone among the state’s Medicaid and commercially insured populations. Our latest analysis, published in 2022, found that among Medicaid and commercially insured beneficiaries, the number of individuals receiving opioid prescriptions decreased from fiscal year 2017 through fiscal year 2021, while the number of individuals receiving naloxone prescriptions increased during the same period. For more from our findings, see our data brief.

ACHI also leads the NaloxHome program in partnership with the state drug director and the Arkansas Department of Human Services. The program provides free naloxone to hospital emergency rooms to dispense at discharge to patients or caregivers of patients who have experienced an overdose or are at risk for an overdose.

Steps To Address the Opioid Crisis in Arkansas

The nation remains in the midst of a federal public health emergency that was initially declared in 2017 in response to the opioid crisis. The declaration of a public health emergency gives the Department of Health and Human Services administrative flexibility in conducting certain activities in response to the opioid crisis, such as waiving public notice periods for certain Medicaid demonstration projects on substance abuse disorder treatment.

States are also receiving opioid settlement funds that they can use to address the opioid crisis. Arkansas has begun receiving payments that will eventually total $216 million from the National Prescription Opiate Litigation, with the money to be distributed equally between the Arkansas Municipal League, the Association of Arkansas Counties, and the office of the attorney general. In 2022, the Arkansas Municipal League and the Association of Arkansas Counties established the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, which uses settlement dollars to fund evidence-based programs and strategies to curtail the opioid epidemic in Arkansas.