On Saturday June 1st, CBS17 was on hand to cover Fentvic Meetup #12 in Durham, North Carolina. Watch their coverage:
Category: Naloxone
ABC11 coverage of Fentvic Meetup #12
Coverage from the 6PM edition:
Coverage from the 11PM edition:
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) — It’s a problem that’s become all too common.
In Durham County alone, the sheriff said last year they seized 3.7 grams of fentanyl from the streets. This year, so far over 300 grams have been removed.
On Saturday the group Fentanyl Victims of North Carolina held its 12th meet-up in Durham.
Natalie Beauchaine proudly shared a photo of her son Jake.
“He was smart he was giving he was loyal if he was your friend he was your loyal friend,” Natalie said.
But behind his smile was also a battle with addiction that ultimately turned tragic.
“It was not an overdose, it was something that he thought was heroin,” Natalie said.
ALSO SEE: ‘World No Tobacco Day’ highlights effort to curb the use of vaping in youth
The heroin was laced with a fatal amount of fentanyl. In the midst of her grief, Natalie found community among other members of a club no one wants to be a part of – families of fentanyl victims.
“It doesn’t know race, it doesn’t know color, it doesn’t know socioeconomic background, it affects everybody,” she said.
Around a table, other families shared similar stories, including how many were caught off guard by what has become a silent killer.
“Marijuana can be laced with fentanyl and sometimes fentanyl can even be in water or soda as far as a child is concerned, and you don’t know that it’s there which is really really dangerous,” said Dr. Wanda Boone.
Dangerous also because of how cheap and prevalent it is.
“It is an economic boon to the drug trade,” said Durham County Sheriff Clarence Birkhead.
Birkhead said his office is working to get fentanyl off the streets.
“Once they get it, they can take those 3.7 grams or those 300 grams and just multiply it exponentially,” he said.
One solution they’re fighting for is making sure naloxone is available in every school in the state. They’re also hoping these stories and legacies save lives.
“I just don’t want to see any other families go through this. It’s a horrible grief and it’s just something that nobody else has to go through,” Natalie said.
Wake County approved naloxone in all schools but not every county has them. State Senator Mike Woodard said it would only cost around $350,000 to supply naloxone statewide and he’s hoping to get it into the state budget.
Read the story and watch the video on the ABC11 News website.
Raleigh teen carrying Narcan saves life by the side of the road
A Leesville Road High School student was heading to downtown Raleigh to run errands when she saw something on the side of the road. Victoria Taton ended up saving a man from a dire situation.
A senior at a Raleigh high school now has a rare, first-hand account of the power of the life-saving drug naloxone.
A Leesville Road High School student was heading to downtown Raleigh to run errands when she saw something on the side of the road.
Victoria Taton ended up saving a man from a dire situation.
Taton was driving near Crabtree Valley Mall, running errands in the busy afternoon rush hour, when she saw two young men in the distance. One of them was lying on the ground. She trusted her gut – waited for a red light, and went over to them.
“I asked them, what’s going on?” she said. “I kept my distance. He’s telling me that his friend is on the ground not responding. And he’s not sure what’s happening. But he thinks it might be an overdose from the symptoms that he was seeing.”
Taton raced to get the Narcan in her car — raced back, and administered it in the stranger. It worked.
“It takes anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes to work,” Taton said. “In about 30 seconds to 60 still with the EMS on the phone, he comes out of the state of response that he was in. He throws up. He’s coming in and out of consciousness. The EMS are telling us that.”
Officials are still combating the stigmas around naloxone, known by its brand name Narcan. But more and more people are carrying naloxone kits to keep them and their peers safe. Taton said she’s been carrying it with her for two years.
“I just felt that it’s a really good thing to carry,” Taton said. “You really just don’t know anymore. Especially with kids our age, going off to college soon, you just don’t know. I just thought it was safe to carry it from then on.”
Her instincts proved right. Taton hopes her experience will motivate others to consider carrying Narcan.
“They said he most likely would be OK because we did the right thing,” Taton said. “If we weren’t there, he probably would’ve died. We weren’t sure what he took, but because we acted quickly, yeah.”
Winston-Salem Forsyth County Schools passes Narcan policy unanimously, parents reflect
WINSTON-SALEM — Numbers from Forsyth County show that 22 minors have overdosed within the first three months of this year. The average age of those children is 11 years old.
Annie Vasquez with Forsyth Regional Opioid & Substance Use Team thinks that adding the life-saving drug to schools makes the biggest of difference.
“So I feel better that somebody at each of my kids’ school will know how to use Narcan, and will have it available to them,” said Vasquez.
Vasquez is an opioid survivor herself and says that this policy gives peace of mind for her own children.
“My personal story of making it out alive, I hope, will both inspire other folks that they can do it, or their family member can do it. But I also am here to advocate for all of those people that do use drugs now, that there is hope out there,” said Vasquez.
Andrea Scales lost her son Jeremiah Scales to fentanyl overdose and speaks about how this policy resonates.
I lost my son to unknowingly ingesting fentanyl, and this happened June 3rd of 2022. This coming Monday will be two years since his passing. Jeremiah was my only child and it makes me feel so good to be able to be apart of the change. This will change a life,” said Scales.
The school board passed the policy unanimously, with the end goal to carry Narcan in all of their schools.
Read the article on the ABC45 News website.
WS/FCS board of education vote unanimously to bring Narcan to classrooms
School leaders say they’re hoping to have this in place for the 2024-25 academic year. It’s a decision that comes after the community expressed the need for more school resources following a rise in opioid deaths in Forsyth County.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. —
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County school board members voted unanimously to bring Narcan to the classrooms. School leaders say they’re hoping to have this in place for the 2024-25 academic year. It’s a decision that comes after the community expressed the need for more school resources following a rise in opioid deaths in Forsyth County.
Annie Vasquez, a substance use health educator came to Tuesday’s night’s board meeting in hopes the Narcan proposal would pass.
“When I was 17, I started using heroin. I’m very lucky that I did not overdose at the school system. We did not have Narcan when I was in active addiction, so it’s a very different, just, area,” Vasquez said.
As a mother and 20 years clean herself, Vasquez says this decision is a breath of fresh air.
According to data from Forsyth County Behavioral Health Services, as of Monday, there have been 17 overdose deaths so far this year. EMS has responded to more than 700 overdose-related calls.
A total of 1,583 cases were reported last year. That would mean that through Memorial Day, overdose calls in the county could increase by 11% from 2023 to 2024.
Andrea Scales is also sitting in for that vote on Tuesday. Her son, Jeremiah, died in June 2022 after unknowingly consuming fentanyl. She says this vote is a win for both of them.
“Sitting in that room today, I carried him in here with me,” Scales said. “And we were both rooting for this policy to pass, and knowing that it has for the upcoming school year is amazing, it’s remarkable, and it needed to take place. And I’m so glad this is going to save lives.”
According to the draft policy, the Forsyth County Health Department will supply Narcan to schools for free. It will also offer annual training to teachers and staff on how to administer it and where it is to be stored.
According to the policy, Narcan isn’t required to be available for activities off school grounds, like field trips or athletic events.
Read the article and watch the video on the WXII News 12 website.
WS/FCS approves adding Narcan to its schools
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County School leaders voted unanimously to add Narcan to its school district.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools (WS/FCS) voted unanimously to add Narcan to all its schools on Tuesday, May 28.
The drug can save the life of someone who has overdosed on opioids.
School leaders said it’s better to be safe than sorry.
“We just hope that we hopefully will never have to use it. But in the event that we needed to use it, then hopefully we would be able to save a life,” said WS/FCS Director of School Nurses Katie Key.
ABSS is in a similar process. The district said it’s researching Narcan dispensers.
This plan is in the early stages; no timeline has yet been determined.
Read the article and watch the video on the WFMY News2 website.
Davidson County nonprofit pushes for opioid overdose-reversing drug in all NC schools
Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools officials are considering placing the opioid overdose-reversing drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan, in all of its schools. That’s something Barbara Walsh of Davidson County would like to see happen statewide. She lost her daughter, Sophia, to an accidental overdose.
Wake Forest University student Marc Isabella spoke to Walsh about her advocacy through the nonprofit she started, Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.
Interview highlightsOn the goals of her nonprofit:
“I did not know how to spell fentanyl when my daughter died, but it appears to me that the focus is on the numbers. And the numbers just really don’t mean much until you put faces to them. That’s what the goal is. I am finding families every day who have lost someone to fentanyl. They typically feel very alone, thinking their child was the only one who has died this way. But that’s not true.”
On her priorities for addressing the opioid crisis:
“In North Carolina, I would like to see Naloxone in all 100 counties. That’s the easiest way to save a life. We think all the schools should have it just in case a student does something… If they have Naloxone on school premises and somebody goes down and has a fentanyl emergency in the bathroom, they can save her life. And if they don’t have a fentanyl emergency, and they still administer Naloxone, nothing happens. They’re safe.”
On the biggest obstacle to getting Naloxone in schools:
“I would say that there are many preconceived notions. Nobody spends any time to figure out who that person is, and how fentanyl got into their body… Education about the danger of fentanyl is critical.”
On whether there’s a difference in attitudes on Naloxone between rural and urban counties:
“That’s a great question. Mecklenburg County just approved Naloxone in its schools in January. Rural Harnett County just approved it in December, to have it in all schools and on the school buses. You have some counties in eastern North Carolina, which are all rural, they have school policies to have it in the district. Every school in the district has Naloxone. So it’s kind of a crapshoot.”
Read the article and listen to the interview on the WFDD website.
Wake County School Board approves Naloxone policy, raises meal prices
The Wake County School Board has approved a new policy regarding the use of an overdose-reversing drug and raised meal prices for the 2024-2025 school year.
Wake County Schools will join other North Carolina districts like Charlotte-Mecklenburg that have adopted a new policy on the emergency use of Naloxone.
The nasal spray, also known as Narcan, can help reverse opioid overdoses. The school board approved the policy on Tuesday.
Opioid Crisis in Wake County
It will require up to at least three staff members in every school to learn how to use Narcan. The latest data from the Opioid Settlement chart shows 240 people died in 2021 due to opioid overdoses.
“All 200 Wake County Schools deserve to have naloxone,” said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. “It is no different than an EpiPen or an AED system or a fire extinguisher. It’s all life saving equipment.”
The new policy does not guarantee Naloxone at every school and it is also not required at activities held off school grounds. The Wake schools policy was also adopted ahead of a June 5 deadline to apply for county funding.
Drugs sold as fentanyl in Goldsboro, Edgecombe overdoses contained 8 different substances
Xylazine, Benzatropine, a hallucinogen and another kind of designer chemical among drugs detected in sample linked to dozens of eastern North Carolina overdoses.
It’s been six weeks since four people died in Goldsboro in four days and more than a dozen others across eastern North Carolina overdosed in a matter of weeks.
Families, community members and law enforcement have been searching for answers about what caused this uptick.
This week, scientists at the UNC Street Drug Analysis Lab were able to provide those. The test results from a sample collected in a baggie show that what was sold as illegal fentanyl was actually a mixture of eight different drugs.
“It turns out it was a particularly nasty mix of substances that involved fentanyl and xylazine, Benzatropine, a hallucinogen and another kind of designer chemical,” said Dr. Nabarun Dasgupta, a senior scientist in the lab. “It was really unexpected so it’s not surprising that a mix like that leads to a lot of overdoses.”
The lab has partnerships with dozens of health organizations, including Edgecombe County EMS. In the weeks since the uptick in overdoses in the county, Dalton Barrett and Dasgupta have formed a friendship as they both work with the common goal to address the crisis in a data-driven, science-led manner.
“This was pretty eye opening for us,” Barrett said. “When I saw the results, there was a number of things that I’d never seen before in Edgecombe County, per se, and it didn’t really make sense as far as the mixture.”
Read more: Drugs sold as fentanyl in Goldsboro, Edgecombe overdoses contained 8 different substancesThis is their second attempt at trying to identify what was in the supply that resulted in 16 nonfatal overdoses in Edgecombe during a two-week span last month. The first sample came from a dollar bill but there wasn’t enough residue for an analysis.
“I was extremely disappointed about the dollar bill sample,” Dalton said. ” I felt like maybe I had done something wrong or we just didn’t get lucky and sometimes that’s just how it goes. But being able to put our finger on this is gonna be a big, big deal for us.”
This time, the sample came from a stamp bag. The street product is known as Pringles.
What’s particularly unsettling: a few months earlier Barrett had samples tested from a different bag that had the same stamp and the results came back vastly different.
“Usually, we try and think about these stamps as like, labels on a beer bottle like this is Michelob Ultra, this is this and it’s like the same thing, time and time again,” Barrett explained. “But that’s not the case.”
Barrett says people in the community likely didn’t know that it was a mixture of so many substances since it had that same stamp and they had been safe using it in the past.
“Even the person selling it probably had no idea that it contained these substances,” Dasgupta said.
With the variety of drugs in the supply, WRAL News asked whether would naloxone work to reverse an overdose. Both men said yes, but the people probably would’ve remained unconscious because of how potent the substance was. It is unclear if xyzlazine testing strips would have worked in this case.
Barrett says they’re unsure if this contaminated supply remains in the area. They’ve seen a 33% drop in overdoses this month compared to last. Still, he says it’s “a big, big deal” they were able to put their finger on what exactly is in supply and he is hopeful the results will raise awareness and save lives.
“Seeing people of my age dying from something that we can prevent really kind of tickles my heartstrings as a medical professional,” Barrett said.
‘Fentanyl is everywhere.’ Wake schools wants to be ready to treat opioid overdoses.
Wake County schools will now be required to make sure that they’ve got employees who can treat opioid overdoses on campus.
The Wake County school board approved Tuesday a new policy on the emergency use of Naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose when given in time. Every Wake school will be required to have at least three employees who are trained in how to administer Naloxone, which is the generic name for the drug Narcan.
The policy comes as opioid overdoses and addiction have surged nationally.
In 2022, 219 people died from drug overdoses in Wake County, The News & Observer previously reported. Opioids — medicines prescribed for pain like codeine, fentanyl, oxycodone and morphine — were responsible in three-quarters of the deaths.
“Fentanyl is everywhere,” said school board member Wing Ng. “Fentanyl is a crisis. We all have to be aware of the signs and symptoms.”
STOCKING NALOXONE IN SCHOOLS
The policy directs Superintendent Robert Taylor to develop a program to place Naloxone at schools, early learning centers and district administrative offices. There’s currently no money in the budget to purchase Naloxone. The district estimates that it could cost $6,500 to $30,000 to place two Naloxone doses at each school. The board accelerated adoption of the policy to get it in place before a June 5 deadline to apply for funding from the county.
Read the full article on the Raleigh News & Observer website.