An epidemic of overdose-related deaths is taking a shockingly high toll in North Carolina.
From 2019 to 2020, there was a 40 percent increase in overdose deaths in the state. An average of 9 people died a day here in 2020, and early data from 2021 shows a continued increase in the rate of opioid deaths.
The harrowing numbers are prompting a response from state and local officials and addiction treatment advocates, which will soon be bolstered with funding from a recent $26 billion settlement reached earlier this year with the major pharmaceutical companies responsible for the tidal wave of opioids in communities across the nation.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein was a lead negotiator in that lawsuit. He met with local leaders in Hillsborough earlier this week for a roundtable discussion on how Orange County is tackling the overdose epidemic.
Stein heard from Macon Hollister, the Recovery Diversion Coordinator with the Lantern Project, a recent initiative showing signs of success helping Orange County residents struggling with addiction. The Lantern Project started last September and already served over 200 people.
“Which is pretty incredible to think about,” Hollister said on Monday, “because that’s 214 people who before this program, would not have had access to treatment.”
More than 80 Narcan kits, which can reverse overdose, were distributed in August by the Lantern Project. Hollister said the program helps people from all types of backgrounds, including those at risk of becoming caught up in the criminal justice system.
“Meeting those basic life needs, allows them to then focus on their recovery and their treatment and whatever it is they need to then focus on their life.”
More than 70 percent of overdose deaths in the state involved fentanyl, often in combination with other substances, according to the NC Department of Health and Human Services.
One way local advocates seek to help those struggling with addiction is with the installation of a new Narcan vending machine at the Orange County Detention Center in Hillsborough.
The vending machine holds free Narcan kits and fentanyl testing strips and came together with the help of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.
After the roundtable, Attorney General Stein praised the wide-ranging effort from local officials combating overdose deaths in the county.
“If these folks are not talking to each other, it’s never going to work,” Stein said, “because we have to help people, wherever they are, and they are often in the jails or the emergency departments, and connect them with where they can get healthy and well.”
Stein said further settlement money from major pharmaceutical companies is likely down the road. $750 million from this year’s $26 billion settlement is going to North Carolina efforts. 85 percent percent of the funds will go directly to local efforts to support treatment, recovery, harm reduction, and other strategies, according to officials. The rest of the money is to go to the state for the same purposes.
“Folks out there who are either struggling with addictions or they have a family member struggling with addiction, need to know there is hope,” Stein said. “There is a path to recovery, and we’re just trying to get them there.”
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