Poll Finds Demographic Disparities In Opioid Addiction Impact

One in three North Carolinians say they've been personally affected by the opioid addiction crisis, according to a new poll from Elon University.

The survey examined the impact of opioids whether of the prescription variety or the street drug heroin.

While the poll found the drug addiction crisis personally impacted about a third of respondents, some demographic trends emerged.

Younger people were more likely to say they felt an impact, and it was more strongly felt in suburban areas than rural and urban ones. White residents were almost twice as likely to report being affected than black residents.

There wasn't much difference between Democrats and Republicans, except in terms of how to address the problem. A majority of overall respondents said illegal drug use should be handled by doctors, not prosecutors.

But broken down by party, more Republicans favored using the courts compared to Democrats and independents.

The live-caller survey using landline and cell phones of 771 registered voters in North Carolina was conducted Nov. 6-9, 2017 and the results have a margin of error +/-3.5 percent.