2024 SASI Key Findings

54% of Americans know someone with SUD.

Stigma is a major sociocultural factor that impacts approaching SUD.

It is a set of negative attitudes and beliefs that often lead to unjust treatment.

The stigma associated with SUD contributes to social isolation and discourages people from seeking help, contributing to tens of thousands of deaths annually.

The SASI was first conducted in 2021 and revealed the widespread nature of SUD stigma.

The data collected from the most recent SASI shows that those who use substances continue to face an unwelcoming environment, which is cause for concern on a national level.

Misunderstanding of the Nature of SUD

Three-fourths (74%) of Americans do not believe that a person with SUD is experiencing a chronic medical illness like diabetes, arthritis, or heart disease.
Only half of Americans understand that a person with SUD could be experiencing mental illness (55%) or physical illness (53%).

Americans Distance Themselves From People With SUD

Four in ten adults are unwilling to spend an evening socializing with someone who has SUD (44%) and/or have someone with SUD as a close friend (47%).
Approximately three-fourths of Americans (77%) report being willing to have someone with SUD as a coworker; however, their willingness drops to about half (52%) when they are asked to work in close proximity with that same person.
More than half of the public (57%) believes a person with SUD is not trustworthy and four in ten (40%) believe a person with SUD is not competent.

People Hold Stigma Towards Some Treatment Pathways

Approximately four in ten (43%) Americans believe that medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) substitutes one drug addiction for another.
Encouragingly, despite many believing MOUD is trading one drug addiction for another, about eight in ten Americans believe that MOUD helps people cope with addiction (82%) and understand that MOUD is an effective treatment for OUD (78%).
While there is broad support to increase access for MOUD (78%), when asked if individuals would be willing to have a clinic that offered MOUD in their neighborhood, support declines to about half (53%).

Mixed Support for Lifesaving Harm Reduction Resources

Seven in ten adults now support personally procuring naloxone (71%) and increasing access to fentanyl test strips for people who use drugs (73%).
Despite safe injection sites proven ability to reduce overdose deaths, rates of infectious disease, and substance use in public areas, less than half (43%) of Americans would support having safe injection sites in their community.*

*Ng, J., Sutherland, C., & Kolber, M. R. (2017). Does evidence support supervised injection sites?.
Canadian family physician, 63(11), 866.