Americans increasingly view illicit drug policy through a partisan lens, new analysis finds
A Brown University researcher finds fewer than half of Americans believe the country is making progress against illicit drugs, with perceptions increasingly shaped by political affiliation
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A new study finds that while most Americans continue to view illicit drugs as a serious national problem, their views about whether the country is making progress have become increasingly divided along partisan lines.
The study comes from Brendan Saloner, the Donald G. Millar Distinguished Professor of Alcohol and Addiction Studies in Brown’s School of Public Health. It analyzed Gallup Poll Social Survey data from 2000 to 2025 to understand how Americans view the effectiveness of drug policy, both nationally and in their own communities.
The research offers one of the longest looks at how Americans' views of drug policy have evolved during a period marked by the overdose epidemic, cannabis legalization and shifting federal approaches to illicit drugs.
Among the findings:
In the majority of years between 2000 and 2025, fewer than half of Americans perceived progress against illicit drugs. Perceived progress was at its lowest ebb in 2023, at just over 23%, and rose in 2025 to 44%.
Americans were more likely to perceive progress when their preferred political party occupied the White House. This partisan effect, which has grown since the mid-2010s, is illustrated by the 54-point increase in Republican perceptions of progress between 2023 and 2025.
Most Americans viewed drugs as a serious national problem, while only a minority said drugs were a serious problem in their own communities.
“There’s no year in which a majority of people say we’re making progress," Saloner said. "People are not, generally speaking, seeing this as an issue that we’re winning.”
Saloner said the growing role of partisanship could make it more difficult to build broad public support for a long-term national drug strategy and suggests policymakers may need to rethink not only their messages, but also who delivers them.
"It pains me to say this, but public health officials are not viewed as credibly and with as much deference as they used to be,” Saloner said. “The pandemic really soured a lot of people on their state and local public health agencies, particularly among conservatives. So, there may need to be other kinds of messengers — faith leaders, people from law enforcement who can speak on these issues — so that people don’t immediately tune out the message.”
The study also highlights a longstanding disconnect between how Americans view the drug crisis nationally and how they perceive it in their own communities. It’s a paradox that Saloner says is central to understanding public opinion on drug policy.
"We experience the issues related to drugs in personal and direct ways, whether it’s in our own life, in our family, in the place that we live,” Saloner said. “The idea of drug policy seems so removed, so abstract, so far from our own lives. Finding ways to reduce that gap, I think, is key to a more successful strategy."
The study appears in the Journal of Addiction Medicine.
Journal
Journal of Addiction Medicine
Method of Research
Meta-analysis
Subject of Research
People
Article Title
Trends in Public Opinion About US Illicit Drug Policy: Results From the 2000 to 2025 Gallup Survey
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