The abuse of drugs is an important issue in Kentucky and across the nation.
For the past five years, the Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP), sponsored by Interact for Health and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, has asked Kentucky adults about the impact of drug use on their family and friends.
The 2016 KHIP asked about prescription pain medication abuse, heroin use and methamphetamine use.
3 in 10 know someone with problems due to abuse of pain drugs
Nearly 3 in 10 Kentucky adults (27 percent) said that a family member or friend had had problems as a result of abusing prescription pain relievers. Adults in rural counties (30 percent) were more likely to say that than adults in urban (22 percent) or suburban counties (26 percent). Northern Kentucky results were similar to statewide results.
In 2015, 1,219 people died from drug overdoses in Kentucky. This is nearly five times as many as in 2000, when 246 people died from drug overdoses. Most of these deaths were from opioid use: either the abuse of prescription pain medications or the use of heroin. “On average, two people in our region die from an accidental opioid overdose every day. Most people who get into trouble with opioids began by using prescription pain medicines,” says Kelly Firesheets, Senior Program Officer, Interact for Health.
Nearly 2 in 10 know someone with problems due to heroin
Nearly 2 in 10 Kentucky adults (17 percent) said a friend or family member had problems as a result of using heroin. This percentage has steadily increased since KHIP started asking this question in 2013. Responses were about the same in urban (16 percent), suburban (18 percent) and rural (17 percent) counties.
Nearly 4 in 10 adults in Northern Kentucky (36 percent) said they had a family member or friend with problems due to heroin. “This is the highest rate reported in the entire state,” says Chris Conners, Director of the Northern Kentucky Drug Strike Force. The rate in Northern Kentucky is higher than the percentage of adults who said yes in Louisville (23 percent), Lexington (20 percent) and Eastern Kentucky (16 percent). Fewer than 1 in 10 adults in Western Kentucky (9 percent) said they had a family member or friend with problems due to heroin.
Nearly 2 in 10 know someone with problems due to methamphetamine
Nearly 2 in 10 Kentucky adults (17 percent) said a friend or family member had problems as a result of methamphetamine use. This is a slight increase from 2013 (15 percent). Adults in rural counties (20 percent) were more likely to say yes than adults in urban (15 percent) or suburban (10 percent) counties. There was little variation by region.
“These surveys help us determine the issues Kentucky adults are facing and how to best focus our efforts to serve their needs,” says O’dell M. Owens, M.D., M.P.H., President/CEO of Interact for Health. “All of these results are troubling, and show that drug abuse is a problem that needs to be more urgently addressed in Kentucky and across the nation.”
More information about Kentuckians’ opinions about the impact of drug use on their family and friends, and other topics, is available at www.interactforhealth.org/kentucky-health-issues-poll.
The 2016 Kentucky Health Issues Poll (KHIP) is funded by Interact for Health and the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky. KHIP was conducted Sept. 11-Oct. 19, 2016, by the Institute for Policy Research at the University of Cincinnati. A random sample of 1,580 adults from throughout Kentucky was interviewed by telephone. This included 827 landline interviews and 753 cell phone interviews with cell phone users.
In 95 of 100 cases, the statewide estimates will be accurate to ± 2.5%. There are other sources of variation inherent in public opinion studies, such as non-response, question wording or context effects that can introduce error or bias. For more information about the Kentucky Health Issues Poll, please visit www.interactforhealth.org/kentucky-health-issues-poll or www.healthy-ky.org.
Interact for Health is building healthy communities for all people. We serve as a catalyst for health and wellness by promoting healthy living through grants, education, research, policy and engagement. Interact for Health is an independent foundation that serves 20 counties in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. More information is available on the website, www.interactforhealth.org
Interact for Health: A Catalyst in the Community Combating the Heroin Epidemic from Interact for Health on Vimeo.
