Moreover, public opinion remains divided about important aspects of the opioid crisis, with opinion leaders reporting conflicting views about the severity of the situation, how best to respond to it, and who is responsible ( Nanos Research, 2017 American Psychiatric Association, 2018 Angus Reid Institute, 2018 Blendon and Benson, 2018 Manchikanti et al., 2018). But while both nations refer to the opioid crisis as a public health emergency ( Ending America's Opioid Crisis, 2019 Health Canada, 2019), concrete actions toward harm reduction and treatment options have been limited ( Casey, 2016 CFMS, 2018 GAO, 2018 Warren, 2018 Fischer et al., 2019 Frank and Haffajee, 2019). The situation is just as dire in Canada, which saw a corresponding 4,100 fatal overdoses that same year (11.2 per 100,000 population Special Advisory Committee on the Epidemic of Opioid Overdoses, 2019). Since Sackler's original statement, opioid-related overdoses have increased dramatically, contributing to 47,600 deaths in the United States (US) in 2017 alone (14.9 per 100,000 population NIDA, 2019). 98).įast forward to today, when-after almost two decades of deceptive marketing of opioids and economic and social upheaval ( Dasgupta et al., 2018 James, 2019)-North America's overdose problem has, indeed, become “far worse” ( James, 2019, p. “It could have been far worse” ( James, 2019, p. “This is not too bad,” Richard Sackler responded when he learned about 59 fatal overdoses his company's drug, Ox圜ontin ( Oxycodone, 2019), a prescription opioid, had caused in early 2001. Potential implications for science communication and public perception of the opioid crisis are discussed. While most studies are framed as established “facts,” stories rarely provide sufficient information for news consumers to critically evaluate the validity of the research. We find that a small proportion of available studies receive coverage, mostly within issue-focused rather than science communication news stories. Using a detailed coding instrument, we analyzed how opioid-related scholarly publications were covered in 149 news stories published by nine major US and Canadian online news outlets at the height of the crisis. Popular news media play an instrumental role in shaping public perception of issues like the opioid crisis.
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