North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson speaks to the crowd following a press briefing on President Trump’s executive orders on Friday, January 31, 2025 at the State Capitol in Raleigh, N.C. Robert Willett rwillett@newsobserver.com
At the center of the fentanyl crisis sits a Chinese messaging app, six attorneys general said in a letter to the encrypted platform Monday.
WeChat could face criminal charges for allowing dealers and money launderers to seamlessly funnel billions between Mexican cartels, Chinese money laundering organizations and U.S. dealers, said North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson in Charlotte Monday.
Jackson and five other attorneys general in a published letter are demanding the company by June 11 describe “what steps, if any, WeChat has taken in response to (evidence) of WeChat being used to facilitate money laundering by fentanyl traffickers.”
Jackson posted the letter on his office’s website following the Charlotte news conference Monday. It also was signed by attorneys general from as far away as Colorado to as close as South Carolina.
The China-based app used by billions of people in China and nearly 20 million in the United States could face criminal charges under North Carolina’s new anti-money laundering law, public nuisance law or federal law, Jackson said.
The proposed fentanyl control unit would include drug agents and prosecutors dedicated to investigating drug rings and stopping the flow of narcotics into the state.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein was in Charlotte on Thursday to push for funding for a fentanyl control unit.
Stein was joined by Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department officials and people impacted by the fentanyl crisis during the news conference. People like Debbie Dalton.
“It took hardly a minute for my 6’3″, very healthy son to have a heart attack,” Dalton said, “That’s the thing with fentanyl. You don’t see it coming, but it’s coming. It’s relentless, and it’s killing our young people, and nobody is safe from it.”
Dalton lost her son, Hunter, in 2016. She has since worked to prevent other families from dealing with the same loss, and she says Stein’s effort is a part of that.
The proposed fentanyl control unit would include drug agents and prosecutors dedicated to investigating drug rings statewide. It would also be tasked with stopping the flow of narcotics into North Carolina communities.
Stein has been pushing for this unit since 2023 when he was the state’s attorney general. However, it’s never made it into the final state budget.
“I encourage you to talk to the legislature,” Stein said. “The House is considering its budget as we speak, and so, it’s not a coincidence we’re having this discussion right now because I want them to understand the urgency.”
He said it would cost a couple million a year, which Stein said is fully within the General Assembly’s ability. The Senate’s budget plan did include funding for 10 additional prosecutors and five legal assistants for Mecklenburg County. If approved, it would mark the first significant increase in staffing for the DA’s office in nearly 15 years — a period during which the county’s population has grown by approximately 20%.
Stein said this is an important effort, but they still need more law enforcement resources focused on fentanyl.
“I want there to be more local prosecutors, but I just know how local ADAs are, and they are way overwhelmed,” Stein said. “These can be focused on the issue of fentanyl.”
At Thursday’s meeting, CMPD officials said it has received 600 overdose calls so far in 2025, an 11% increase from this time in 2024.
Welcome to the Sunday edition of our Under the Dome newsletter, which focuses on the governor. I’m Avi Bajpai, filling in for Dawn Vaughan this week.
Gov. Josh Stein announces his 2025-27 state budget proposal during a press conference Wednesday, March 19, 2025, at the Albemarle Building in Raleigh. Travis Long tlong@newsobserver.com
The budget proposal Gov. Josh Stein unveiled last month renews his request, now for the third year in a row, for a special unit of state prosecutors and law enforcement agents focused on combating fentanyl trafficking.
Stein first called on the General Assembly to create a fentanyl control unit within the N.C. Department of Justice in February 2023. As head of the department in his role as attorney general at the time, Stein said there was a need for additional prosecutors dedicated to helping local district attorneys go after large-scale trafficking, wiretap, and overdose cases.
His first recommended budget as governor this year includes a funding request for a fentanyl control unit with attorney positions at the DOJ, and law enforcement positions at the State Bureau of Investigation.
Asked about the proposal this week, Stein told reporters that even though initial data appeared to show a downturn in overdose deaths in North Carolina last year, it remains a priority for the state to “dedicate resources to getting this poison out of our communities to the fullest extent possible.”
RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — There’s a renewed push to get deadly drugs off of North Carolina’s streets. At last night’s State of the State address, Governor Josh Stein once again called for the creation of a Fentanyl Control Unit.
The task force would be comprised of law enforcement officers and prosecutors to find the illegal drug and go after those distributing it.
“Too many North Carolinians are like Debbie – parents, siblings, spouses, children, and friends who will never get their loved one back,” Stein remarked in his speech.
Governor Stein invited Debbie Dalton as one of his guests of honor to Wednesday’s address. The Charlotte mom lost her son, Hunter, to fentanyl in 2016.
Debbie Dalton, Husband, Son Hunter (middle)
On Thursday, ABC11 spoke with Debbie, who described the moment she received a standing ovation on the House floor.
“It was so surreal and so incredibly special. I’m humbled,” she said.
Debbie met Stein not long after Hunter died in 2016 and has used the last 8-plus years to advocate for the dangers of opioids. Their connection became so strong that she shared her story in a series of campaign ads for the Governor in the fall. Debbie said his memory still fuels her work on the issue.
Gov. Stein, Debbie Dalton
“We need more Hunters in the world,” Dalton said. “He was this great young man, and he could be contributing. While he made a bad decision that night, you’re not supposed to suffer that sort of consequence for your decision.”
For local anti-fentanyl advocates like Barb Walsh — who founded the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina — the establishment of a Fentanyl Control Unit is many years in the making.
“To me, it’s a continuation of the fight against fentanyl and his support of the over 18,000 devastated families who have a loved one who’s been killed by fentanyl,” Walsh said.
Walsh lost her daughter, Sophia, to fentanyl in August of 2021 and has since worked with lawmakers to get new legislation passed, including a bill making it easier for prosecutors to go after people who sell bad drugs. She believes the time for bipartisan action on the issue is now.
Sophia Walsh
“This is not a red issue or blue issue. Fentanyl does not discriminate in who it kills,” Walsh said.
Stein’s remarks were met with bipartisan applause during last night’s address. The possibility of funding a possible Fentanyl Control Unit will likely arise during budget negotiations.
A new ad promoting North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s response to the fentanyl crisis will start running during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.
Stein is the Democratic nominee for governor and running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. In the new television and digital ad airing first on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, a mother talks about her son who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl.
The ad features Debbie Dalton of Cornelius talking about her late son Hunter, who grew up on Lake Norman. Hunter Dalton, 23, graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016, moved to Raleigh and died that same year. His family and friends started The Hunter Dalton #HDLife Foundation in his memory.
Dalton has spoken at news conferences with Stein in his role as attorney general.
In the ad, Dalton praises Stein for his work on the fentanyl crisis as attorney general and talks about Hunter as “an amazing young man and just loved life. He was my entire world. He made a bad decision that night. If our son had known about fentanyl, he would still be with us today. And it shocked us to our core, shocked our community to the core,” she said.
“Attorney General Josh Stein stood up for families like mine, worked with law enforcement, and worked across party lines to attack the fentanyl crisis. I knew from the minute that I met him that this is a man that is compassionate and concerned and committed,” Dalton said.
