![A collage of Tweets about Demi Lovato, including pictures of the singer, reading: "InStyle @Instyle Demi Lovato's friends reportedly feared an overdose would happen. Demi Lovatos' Friends Reportedly... "She has not been sober for quite some... in being sober."", "ABC News @ABC "No sirens, please": Dramatic 911... Demi Lovato's suspected overdos[e]... abcn.ws/2Okk8eN", "CNN @CNN Demi Lovato remains in the hospital following an apparent drug overdose at her home on Tuesday cnn.it/2LJwmyU", and "CBS News @CBSNews Details emerge about what happened before and after Demi Lovato's apparent overdose cbsn.ws/2LMug1o".](https://malonecenter.jhu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/demi_lovato_tweets4-1024x683.jpg)
Demi Lovato’s drug overdose and Anthony Bourdain’s suicide resulted in unequal news coverage of national help hotlines, finds a new study published today in JAMA Internal Medicine.
While Americans tweeted in high volumes and searched for topics relating to Demi Lovato and drugs after the pop singer’s hospitalization for an alleged heroin overdose in the summer of 2018, a small proportion of those engagements mentioned the free national helpline that could provide lifesaving resources.
“Only 10 percent of Americans who need substance abuse treatment resources receive it,” says Mark Dredze, the John C. Malone Associate Professor of Computer Science at Johns Hopkins University and a co-author on the study. “Our study wanted to assess public awareness and engagement with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration national helpline—1-800-662-HELP—following a widely reported drug overdose.”