According to a poll conducted by Axios and the consulting firm Ipsos, the majority of Democratic Party voters identified the use of or access to guns as the main threat to public health. Thirty-five perfect of Democrats feel this way, compared to 4% of Republicans who agree. The majority of GOP voters (37%) believe that fentanyl and other opioids are the biggest problem facing citizens' health compared to 17% percent of Democrats.
After guns and fentanyl, Democratic voters identified obesity (17%) and cancer (9%) as the top problems facing people’s health; while Republicans ranked obesity (25%) and cancer (17%) as the biggest threats after fentanyl.
The truth is that the United States has a serious fentanyl problem. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported that in the year 2022, it seized the equivalent of 379 million lethal doses of this opioid. In other words, the agency seized a higher number of deadly doses than people living in the United States.
Fentanyl is a highly addictive substance. In its purest form, it only takes 2 mg to kill a person. In 2021, more than 70,000 fentanyl overdose deaths were reported. On the other hand, the effects the drug has on users are gruesome. It’s relatively easy to identify a person who is high on fentanyl. After using, people often end up hunched over. It causes episodes of hallucinations and confusion.
