Public Perspectives on Expanding Naloxone Access to Reverse Opioid Overdoses

BACKGROUND

Opioid overdoses can often be reversed with naloxone hydrochloride. Past studies on attitudes toward expanded naloxone access have surveyed drug users, family members, and providers.

OBJECTIVES

To explore how the general public perceives take-home or nonmedical first-responder access to naloxone to reverse opioid overdoses. Additionally, little is known about how support for expanded access is related to participant's endorsement of Individualism and Just World Belief-colloquially people getting what they deserve and deserving what they get.

METHODS

Lay participants completed an online survey examining concerns with and support for expanding naloxone access. Just World Belief, Individualism, and participants' dependence history were also measured. Four different hypothetical situations were considered, varying according to type of opioid (heroin versus nonmedical prescription opioid) and recipient (suburban middle class versus recent parolee).

RESULTS

Most participants agreed with at least some degree of expanded access. Analyses of variance indicated that type of opioid or recipient did not affect attitudes toward expansion. Pearson correlations and multiple regressions revealed that endorsement of Just World Beliefs and Individualism were associated with greater concerns with and less support for expansion.

IMPORTANCE

While there is general agreement with some degree of expanding naloxone access, participants' level of endorsement was influenced by their level of individualism and belief in a just world. These factors need to be considered in how to best frame messages to maximize layperson support for expansion.

Naloxone Decreases Responding for Conditioned Reinforcement in Rats

That opioids can mediate unconditioned reinforcement is well established, but there is little evidence indicating whether they modify conditioned reinforcement. Here, a tone which initially served as a discriminative stimulus for the availability of water reinforcement was established as a conditioned stimulus. When later given a choice between pressing a lever producing the tone (but not water) or one which produced no effect, rats chose the tone-producing lever 66% of the time. Naloxone (3.0 mg/kg) reduced overall responding and completely eliminated the preference for the tone-producing lever. Results are briefly discussed in terms of the importance of understanding mechanisms serving conditioned reinforcement.

What Does a “Superstitious” Person Believe? Impressions of Participants

The questions in surveys in which superstitious belief is examined are based on the researcher or researchers' definitions of superstition and not on participants' definitions. In the present study, 170 undergraduates filled out 2 surveys. In the 1st survey, they were asked to rate 28 possible beliefs of a fictitious person described as "superstitious." In the 2nd survey, they were asked to rate their own level of belief for the same items. An analysis revealed several different factors describing different types of beliefs held by the fictitious person. Ratings for the fictitious person were greatest for socially transmitted beliefs (e.g., black cats, rabbits' feet) or idiosyncratic rituals related to luck and chance, followed by belief in the paranormal (e.g., ghosts), spiritualism (e.g., reincarnation), or psi (e.g., telepathy). Religious beliefs were rated as not being descriptive of the fictitious superstitious person. However, an analysis of the participants' own beliefs revealed that those with higher levels of religious belief also tended to be superstitious and believed in the paranormal.

Withdrawal of presession saccharin suppresses food-maintained responding in rats

Decreased motivation following drug withdrawal is often characterized as indicative of addiction. Similar behavioral disruptions are seen in negative contrast paradigms. In the current study, 7 rats with a history of access to a palatable 0.15% saccharine solution before operant sessions were conditioned. Rats responded for food under a multiple FR 5 FR 40 reinforcement schedule. When presession saccharin was removed and replaced with water, responding maintained by food was significantly decreased, with greater effects observed under the FR 40 schedule. These results support the assertion that behavioral disruptions accompanying withdrawal syndromes include a negative contrast component.