RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Families of those impacted by fentanyl in North Carolina joined together at the General Assembly Wednesday to spread awareness on the dangers of the drug.
Duane and Leslie Locklear were just two of the many parents in attendance. They lost both of their sons, Matthew and Ryan, to fentanyl.
“We lost Matthew in February of 2022 right here in Raleigh and nine months later we lost Ryan in Pembroke. Both, again, due to fentanyl poisoning,” said Duane.
Now they’re on a mission to make sure no other parent has to go what they’ve gone through.
Fayetteville mom, Nanielle Ervin, lost her son to the drug as well.
“I didn’t know what fentanyl was,” said Ervin. “Just to find out that your loved one is gone it’s devastating.”
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says in 2021 more than 77% of overdose deaths in the state likely involved fentanyl.
The group said to combat the crisis they want to see more Naloxone, a drug commonly known as Narcan, in schools.
Families who have lost loved ones to fentanyl are meeting with state lawmakers Wednesday morning to talk about the dangers of the drug, what can be done to save lives – and ask lawmakers to do something about this.
Families say there’s a need for more support and public education.
Families of people who have lost somebody to fentanyl will have their photos on display here at the legislative building, so lawmakers can see the faces of people who have died in their community.
When you look at the data, more than 17,000 North Carolinians have died of fentanyl overdoses since 2013.
Several non-profits and advocates are pushing for Naloxone to be in every school in the state. It’s a lifesaving medication that can be administered through nasal spray if an opioid or fentanyl emergency occurs in a classroom.
They’re calling on the general assembly to appropriate $350,000 of an opioid settlement fund that the state controls. They also want lawmakers to provide two boxes or four doses of Naloxone to all public schools.
“I would like to put faces instead of numbers in people’s minds because when they look at somebody who is young and vibrant and now dead, they’re like ‘oh, that could be me, my son, my daughter,'” Walsh said.
Wednesday’s press conference begins at 10 a.m. followed by a meeting with lawmakers.
Two eastern North Carolina counties have adopted a new way of addressing the opioid crisis, which comes in the form of small purple boxes called ONEbox.
Two eastern North Carolina counties have adopted a new way of addressing the opioid crisis, which comes in the form of small purple boxes called ONEbox.
ONEbox is an emergency kit that contains doses of naloxone, a nasal spray that can rapidly reverse the effects of opioid overdose. The kit walks the user through how to administer the medicine in a crisis.
Wilson County was the first to roll out the ONEbox, and they’ve been placed in 78 locations so far to make them accessible to anyone.
Tiffany Hux said Narcan saved her life.
“I’m glad it did. I am so glad. If not, I wouldn’t be here for my two-year-old child,” Hux said.
Hux has been clean for 10 months after using heroin on and off for five years.
She’s overdosed more than once.
“It can happen everywhere,” she said. “You never know who it will happen to, who it will happen with and where it will happen.”
Jeff Hill, executive director of the Wilson County Substance Coalition, said the ONEbox is all about making naloxone, or Narcan, more accessible.
“We are past the point as a community that we can depend on a handful of people who can save lives. We have to be a community full of people who can save lives,” he said.
The Community Paramedic Program in Edgecombe County is also working to roll out the boxes, installing a ONEbox in Larema Coffee House in downtown Rocky Mount.
Larema Coffee’s owner, Kevin McLaughlin, said he hopes it will help prepare his customers and employees in a crisis.
“Instead of thinking, this would never happen here or to someone we know or see,” he said. “It can happen. It does happen. Every day. It is better to be prepared for than not.”
When the box is opened, users first hear a reminder to calm down.
From there, instructions walk users through how to use the overdose-reversing medicine.
“I can train you as many times as I want, but I do not know how you will react in that moment. If I can give you a tool that can walk you through that process and create that sense of calm, you’ve got a better chance of saving that life,” Hill said.
Even though she is now clean, Tiffany said she will keep the tool around just in case.
“I keep Narcan here. Even if I’m not getting high anymore, I keep it here. Just in case I have a friend who calls me and needs it,” she said.
Glenwood Avenue and Cornerstone Tavern bustle with club-goers before 1 a.m. in the Glenwood South district on Friday, July 21, 2023.
BY JOSH SHAFFER JSHAFFER@NEWSOBSERVER.COM
The phone rang at 3:30 a.m. on a Friday night, and Kelsey Walters woke to chilling news:
Her daughter and a friend took an Uber home from a Glenwood South bar, but by the time the ride ended, they were blacked out in the back seat — unresponsive when the driver tried to shake them awake.
The driver called 911 and EMTs found the two young women with pupils constricted to pinpoints, making the crackling sound of a death rattle. It took Narcan to revive them. When Walters got the call, they were recuperating inside a pair of ambulances, confused about everything.
CARY, N.C. (WTVD) — On Tuesday, Wake County school officials took another step toward putting potentially life-saving medicine into public schools — countywide.
Wake County School Board members approved a new policy Tuesday that would require all schools in the county to keep a supply of Naloxone — also known by its brand name Narcan — and train faculty members on how to use it. Families who have been touched by the fentanyl epidemic say that’s a big win.
“The more we say fentanyl out loud without shame, the more people understand that anybody could die,” said Barb Walsh, a Cary mom and founder of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Someone’s going to die because Naloxone wasn’t in school. And is that a risk they want to take?
Barb Walsh, founder of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina
Barb’s daughter, Sophia, died in August 2021 after drinking from a water bottle that had the dangerous opioid mixed into it. Since then, Barb’s made it her mission to not only support families like hers but also promote life-saving medicine however she can. She founded the Fentanyl Victims Network in August 2022, one year after Sophia died.
“I have a fire extinguisher in my kitchen just in case I have a fire, that’s because I want one,” she said. “Naloxone is the same thing.”
In December, Barb attended a Wake County school board meeting, urging officials to consider requiring Naloxone be put into schools. Now, that’s one step closer to becoming reality, after a new policy was approved — and just needs to be voted on to become official.
“We don’t know where the threat is going to come from. But if we have a tool that can save a life, particularly one of our students’ lives, we want to do everything we can to take those steps,” said board chair Chris Heagarty.
According to state health statistics, Naloxone was used for suspected overdoses 21 times on school grounds statewide last year. Walsh said it’s not worth waiting for more.
“It may not have happened in North Carolina yet. But someone’s going to die because Naloxone wasn’t in school. And is that a risk they want to take?” she said.
Though there’s work to be done — only about 20% of North Carolina’s public school districts have Naloxone policies — the significance of Tuesday’s decision isn’t lost on Walsh.
“It doesn’t take an army. It doesn’t take a lobbyist. It takes a mom who’s lost a child to stand in front of the school board to make this happen. And that’s significant,” she said.
Funding for the new policy is not yet clear. Heagarty said they’ll be targeting possible state and federal funds in addition to county funding out of the superintendent’s budget. The policy will be discussed at a full board meeting in May, and if passed could be in place by next school year.
Narcan is the FDA-approved nasal form of naloxone for the emergency treatment of a known or suspected opioid overdose. The Wake County school board is considering a policy to have naloxone at all schools. News & Observer file photo
Wake County schools could soon be stocked with Naloxone to treat potential opioid overdoses on campus.
The school board’s policy committee recommended on Tuesday new rules on emergency use of Naloxone. The policy requires schools to train people in how to administer Naloxone and directs Superintendent Robert Taylor to develop a program to place Naloxone at schools, early learning centers and district administrative offices.
“This is fantastic,” said school board member Sam Hershey. “This warms my heart we’re going in this direction. I think it’s crucial. At some point it’s going to hit, and we’ve got to be as ready as we can be.”
CHARLOTTE — Feds are charging five Chinese nationals with money laundering after they say the suspects were part of a Chinese money-laundering operation that assisted drug trafficking operations by depositing drug money into Charlotte banks. In March, a grand jury indicted Enhua Fang, Shu Jun Zhen, Jianfei Lu, Maoxuan Xia, and Shao Neng Lin. The federal court documents were unsealed last week.
Seamus Hughes, a founder of the PACER monitoring newsletter Court Watch, first flagged the arrests.
Court documents claim the ringleader was Fang. The court documents claim Fang would receive requests from Mexican drug-trafficking organizations for bulk cash pickups in the United States. They say she would then send couriers to locations throughout the United States to collect the money and deposit it into bank accounts across the country. Once the money was in the bank, federal investigators say the funds would be laundered, including through cryptocurrency accounts. An extensive investigation by the DEA and IRS brought all this to light.
Many people in recovery from drug use often need help finding a place to live.
Housing can be even more of a challenge if they lack familial support or struggle with mental-health issues. If they are recently incarcerated, they are 50 times more likely to overdose and die as a result.
Wake County leaders want to expand ways to help with $7.5 million in opioid settlement money next year.
Over the next 18 years, Wake County will get $65.6 million from the historic national opioid settlement. The money comes from companies that made or distributed prescription painkillers and were sued for their role in the millions of people who overdosed on opioids or became addicted.
“We’re serious about this; we’re excited about this,” said Wake Commissioner Cheryl Stallings, one of the leaders who spearheaded the effort. “We all now recognize how great this need is. Unfortunately, sometimes, it takes a real crisis to get our attention and I’m sorry that we’re in this place, but we have a great opportunity.”
Where is the $7.5 million going?
In 2022, 219 people died from drug overdoses in Wake County. Opioids, medicines prescribed for pain like codeine, fentanyl, oxycodone, and morphine, were responsible in three-quarters of the deaths.
Vast swaths of North Carolina have no health care providers that accept Medicaid for people seeking medication to treat opioid abuse, according to an expert from The Pew Charitable Trusts.
The northeastern corner of the state has a notable absence of providers offering medications to treat opioid use disorder in people enrolled in Medicaid, Andrew Whitacre of Pew told the House Select Committee on Substance Use on Tuesday.
He offered recommendations for policy changes aimed at making it easier for people to find treatment and aligning state policies with funding.
“The passage of Medicaid expansion by the General Assembly last session has the potential to significantly improve access to care for people with substance use disorder, which will have an impact on saving lives, reducing jail and prison populations, and keeping families and children together,” he said.
States that increased reimbursement rates, paid for team-based care, and ran statewide educational training campaigns to encourage providers to take Medicaid had more offering substance use disorder services, Whitacre said.
In 2016, Virginia adopted this approach and found that more people were able to find treatment, he said. Virginia saw a six-fold increase in outpatient providers and a decrease in overdose deaths from 2021 to 2022.
North Carolina has increased reimbursement rates for providers, but that step alone may not be enough to encourage enough providers to meet the increased demand, Whitacre said.
Primary care physicians, federally-qualified health centers in rural and under-served communities, and other community-based providers should be able to bill Medicaid for treatment of substance use, not just substance use treatment specialists, Whitacre said.
“We can’t possibly treat the number of people that have substance use disorder needs with a specialty system,” he said. “It’s just not possible. It’s like treating diabetic patients only through the specialty system and no primary care involvement at all. You just don’t see that.”
North Carolina terminates Medicaid coverage for adults in jail, one of only eight states to do so. Other states suspend Medicaid coverage rather than kicking people off the insurance. Ending coverage means that people must reapply for insurance once they are released. The lack of insurance creates a time gap when people with substance abuse disorder cannot keep up with their opioid treatment.
“Given the relatively short average lengths of stay in jail, terminating Medicaid coverage has a particularly disruptive effect,” Whitacre said.
This was the final meeting of the House Select Committee on Substance Use. The legislative short session begins next week.
The committee recommended the legislature make tianeptine, also known as “gas station heroin,” a Schedule II drug. Products containing tianeptine are sold in convenience stores and vape shops. The FDA has issued several warnings against its use, and other states have banned it.
The committee also recommended passing House Bill 563, which would regulate hemp-derived edibles and kratom.
The committee had a lively discussion when Rep. Donna White’s suggested recommending mandatory monitoring of school bathrooms.
“I know that’s a big ask and I don’t know how we would do it. But I know it’s doable,” the Johnston County Republican said.
Rep. Amber Baker, a former elementary school principal, said the schools shouldn’t be required to hire more people without getting more money.
“I do support anytime we can get additional personnel into schools to help keep students safe,” said Baker, a Forsyth County Democrat. “But I’m not as supportive of us putting another legislative mandate on our schools without providing the personnel that will be in charge.”
