The opioid epidemic has grown into a pressing political issue, which many midterm election campaigns aim to bring to the forefront of their platform, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Here are three things to know:
1. WSJ conducted a 2018 analysis of congressional and gubernatorial race advertisements using data from Kantar Media/CMAG and found ads mentioning opioids have ran more than 50,000 times across 25 states. In 2014 midterm election campaigns, only one political opioid-related advertisement was issued, and it aired 70 times in Kentucky. Most of the 2018 ads promise to increase treatment funds and stop the inflow of illicit opioids in the U.S.
2. The map of ad purchases indicate the opioid epidemic is playing an influential role in closely contested U.S. Senate and gubernatorial races in Florida, Missouri, Wisconsin and West Virginia. However, this does not directly correlate to states' overdose rates. Florida, Wisconsin, Missouri and Pennsylvania are running a significant amount of opioid-related ads, but have a lower rate of overdose deaths than other states.
3. Outside of close campaign races, a sharp' increase in overdose deaths could also be fueling the prevalence of opioid-related campaign ads, according to WSJ. Florida, Missouri, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania each saw a 50 percent increase in opioid overdoses between 2012-16.