'Zombie drugs': Dehumanising news frames and public stigma towards people who use drugs

Background: News media is an important determinant of public understanding of drug policy topics. Recent media reporting around the use of synthetic drugs such as xylazine makes frequent use of non-human metaphors, including reference to the effects of 'zombie drugs'. We investigated whether presentation of news stories which included such dehumanising frames were associated with i) increased stigmatising attitudes towards people who use drugs; and ii) lower support for relevant harm reduction programmes. Methods: We undertook a cross-sectional online experimental study with a randomised factorial design, using a nationally representative sample (UK). Participants (N = 1417) were randomly presented with one of six simulated news stories based on recent reports of the identification of xylazine in the drug market. Stories differed with respect to text (neutral or referred to either a 'zombie drug', or a drug that 'turns people into zombies'); and accompanying imagery (neutral or depicting immobile people under the influence of drugs). Stigmatising attitudes and support for harm reduction were assessed using instruments including an adapted version of the Attribution Questionnaire-Substance Use Disorders (AQ-SUD) and analysed using MANOVA. Results: Data were obtained for 1235 participants (52 % female; mean age 47 +/- 16). Attitudes towards people who use drugs were more stigmatising amongst participants presented with either of the dehumanising text conditions (both p < 0.001). There was no main effect of imagery and no interaction between text and imagery on stigma scores. Support for harm reduction programmes did not differ between conditions. Conclusion: Our study is the first to show that dehumanising 'zombie' framing frequently used in news reporting is associated with higher public stigma towards people who use drugs. News media is an important source of public education on drugs, so to avoid reinforcing stigma the use of dehumanising language and framing, such as 'zombie' metaphors, should be avoided. Organisations working to reduce stigma towards people who use drugs should encourage news outputs and journalists to avoid this type of representation.