Category: Media Coverage

Triangle families ask for more to protect lives from Fentanyl

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) โ€” Mitchico Duff described her daughter as kind and loving. Two years ago, Duff said she tragically lost her daughter, 22-year-old Machiko Laโ€™deja Duff, from fentanyl.

โ€œI donโ€™t want another mom to feel the way I feel, this is a nightmare, this is tortureโ€ฆโ€ said Duff while attending a fentanyl awareness event Saturday near Downtown Raleigh.

โ€œIt took us a year to really find out what happened,โ€ the Johnston County mother added. โ€œWe knew it was drugs involved but we didnโ€™t know to the extent of what.โ€

Read the full story on the WNCN CBS17 web site.

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What congress can do about illicit fentanyl

Photos of Americans who died from a fentanyl overdose are displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, on July 13, 2022. (Photo by Agnes Bun/AFP via Getty Images)

On Jan. 3, a new U.S. Congress will be sworn into office for the 118th time in our nationโ€™s history. Sadly, for the first time ever, these new and returning legislators will assume office under the dark milestone ofย more than 100,000ย drug-related deaths in the past year โ€” an all-time high. Congress can and must act quickly at the national level to turn this deadly tide.ย 

With drug-related fatalities at an all-time high and likely going higher, itโ€™s clear that the status quo isnโ€™t working. New policy approaches matched with recent innovations in treatment are necessary to overcome the stratospheric overdose rate.ย 

Read the full article on The Hill web site or download article PDF.

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Narcan kits installed in high schools to fight teen overdoses

A growing number of schools are installing kits stocked with naloxone, also known as Narcan, amid an alarming surge in teen overdoses. NBC Newsโ€™ Morgan Radford reports from Camden County, New Jersey, to learn about one districtโ€™s plan to protect students as dangerous fentanyl becomes more prevalent.

View the original NBC News story on YouTube or the article and video on WRAL.com.

Fentanyl killed their son. Now theyโ€™re begging parents to understand the dangers

CNN โ€” 

It was every parentโ€™s worst nightmare.

Two days after Christmas 2020, Chris Didier went into his son Zachโ€™s bedroom in their home near Sacramento. The accomplished student, school theater actor and athlete was unresponsive at his desk โ€“ his head lying on his arm.

โ€œI could feel before I even touched him that something was horribly wrong,โ€ said Chris.

Read the full story and watch the video on CNN.com

Fayetteville man charged after Harnett County man dies of drug overdose

A Harnett County man who died of a drug overdose has led to a Fayetteville man’s arrest.

On Sunday, first responders found a 53-year-old man unresponsive at a residence on Roger Curtis Lane in Spring Lake.

A Harnett County Sheriff’s Office investigationย revealed the man had purchased narcotics from Lamont McKoy Jr., a 31-year-old from Fayetteville.

Read the full article and watch the video on the WRAL News web site.

As fentanyl continues to plague Onslow County, which area has the worst drug problem?

Following the recent seizure of about five pounds of fentanyl and the ongoing problem of local overdoses, drugs in Onslow County continue to be a major concern.

Onslow County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Colonel Chris Thomas said fentanyl results in the overwhelming majority of overdoses in Onslow County, adding the problem is rarely heroin anymore. Last week, Thomas said the county had three overdoses but was able to revive all three of them with Narcan.

One of the biggest current problems, Thomas added, is that fentanyl is now being pressed into pill form as a way of concealment.

He said the local drug enforcement unit even seized a pill press in Jacksonville a few months ago that was being used for that very reason. Thankfully, Thomas said, the county has not yet seen fentanyl in the form of candy, a growing problem throughout the nation.

Read the full article on the JDNews.com web site.

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Drug bust with enough fentanyl to kill millions has NC connection

Enough fentanyl to kill nearly 3 million people was seized in two separate drug busts with connections to North Carolina this past month.

The fentanyl crisis is at anย all-time high, with the southern border crisis intensifying since the Biden Administration took office in 2021.

The first and biggest bust occurred on Oct. 12 when Mario Alberto Castro Solache, 29, of Raleigh; Pedro Mondragon, 27, of Lillington; and Ignacio Rodriguez, 28, Bradenton, Florida, were arrested in connection to the largest drug bust in the history of Polk County, Florida.

Florida officials announced the arrests on Oct. 22.

Investigators seized 11 pounds of fentanyl, enough to kill 2.7 million people.

Operation Hot Dirt began in September when detectives were tipped off to drug traffickersโ€™ plans to smuggle fentanyl from Mexico to Bradenton, Florida, and then into Polk County.ย 

Read the full article on the Carolina Journal web site.

Families Sue Snapchat Over Drug Dealing: An Overview

On October 13, 2022 theย Social Media Victims Law Centerย andย C.A. Goldberg, PLLCย  filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Snap, Inc. on behalf of the families of Alexander Neville, Daniel Puerta, Jeff Johnston, Jr., Dylan Kai Sarantos, Devin Norring, Jack McCarthy, Alexandra Capelouto, and Daniel (Elijah) Figueroa. These teenagers and young adults are eight among hundreds who have died after taking pills purchased from drug dealers operating on Snapchat.

Also included in the suit are the parents of a 16-year-old who survived fentanyl pill poisoning and continues to use the app.

More details can be found on the Parternership for Safe Medicines web site.

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