The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services says 11 people die from an overdose in the state every day.
Watch the video on the WFMY News 2 website.
Category: NARCAN
After several UNC-Chapel Hill students died from fentanyl, these students are handing out the antidote
College senior Riley Sullivan often carries a vial of the drug naloxone in his backpack, in a pocket next to his pens and pencils.
He has done this for years, long before he was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill. Once, while volunteering at a homeless encampment in his home state of Michigan, he used it to save a manโs life.
โHe was using drugs with somebody else, and they did not have naloxone,โ Sullivan says. โThis guy came out screaming, asking if anyone had some. And I did.โ
Naloxone is the antidote to an opioid overdose. Sullivan took a syringe of injectable naloxone from the backpack he was carrying, walked into the tent and loaded it with a vial of medicine.
โI injected it through his pants, into the front of his thigh,โ Sullivan recalled. Then he performed rescue breathing on the man. โAnd luckily he made it.โ
Today, Sullivan has a $15,000 supply of injectable naloxone in his closet at his off-campus apartment in Chapel Hill. He and two of his classmates have become unexpected distributors of the drug in this college town where several students have recently died from opioids.
The deaths are largely unknown to the campus community, but they were discussed at a recent public meeting of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. The university’s director of student wellness Dean Blackburn led the presentation.
โI want to share a shocking statistic with you, that I hope you find shocking. It is for me. In the last 20 months, we have lost three active students and one young alum to fentanyl poisoning,” Blackburn said. “And I use that term specifically; not โoverdoseโ because our students and alum were not using fentanyl.”
โThey were using other substances that were laced with fentanyl, and they did not know that. And the result of that poisoning was their death and our loss,โ he added.
Read the full article and listen to the interview on the WUNC website.
CNN explains how Narcan can reverse an overdose
The FDA recently approved an opioid overdose antidote for over-the-counter use. CNN’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains how to use it.
Victims of fentanyl poisonings push for broader jurisdiction of fentanyl laws
A group of activists rallied outside the State Capitol Sunday afternoon to push for tougher punishments for people who illegally distribute fentanyl.
The group is pushing for two bills to pass, Senate Bill 189 and House Bill 250.
If the bills pass, it would broaden who gets criminally prosecuted for distributing fentanyl. As it stands, North Carolina is one of the few states that has a death-by-distribution law.
That law allows district attorneys to prosecute people who sell drugs that lead to an overdose death.
The bills would allow district attorneys to prosecute people for not just selling drugs, but for general distribution, even if there is no money involved.
โThey would see the person who killed their son, or daughter, or wife or cousin in the courtroom,โ Executive Director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina Barb Walsh said. โAnd thereโs no words for that.โ
Walsh and her group have been connecting family members of fentanyl overdose victims with one another to form a support group.
Read the full article and watch the video on the WRAL website.
NC families of fentanyl victims advocate for more state action to fight opioid crisis
RALEIGH N.C. (WNCN) โ Wednesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved lifesaving medication to combat the opioid crisis.
While families of fentanyl victims in North Carolina are praising the decision, they say thereโs more to do on a state level to prevent deaths.
Barb Walshโs 24-year-old daughter, Sophia, died in 2021 after drinking from what she thought was a typical water bottle, instead it had dissolved fentanyl inside.
Walsh created the Fentanyl Victims Network to connect families impacted in the state.
โEvery night I call five families because I want to talk to them,โ Walsh said. โTo collect these people and let them know that theyโre not alone and they need to join us. We are stronger together.โ
Read the full article on the CBS17 web site.
Wilson librarian uses Narcan to save man’s life during overdose
A librarian in Wilson County saved a man’s life late last year during an overdose by administering the drug Narcan, reviving him as police and medics arrived.
Read the full article and watch the video segment on the WRAL TV5 web site.
NC Family Summit Media Coverage
The NC Family Summit received substancial press coverage.
CBS 17 News
WRAL TV5 News
NC Policy Watch
CBS17 Coverage of Family Summit
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) โ Dozens of families from across North Carolina and beyond were together in Raleigh on Saturday, remembering loved ones who died from fentanyl poisoning.
โMatthew was my first grandchild, my first grandson, and I always called him my uno because he was my number one,โ one woman said to a group at the Family Summit on Illicit Fentanyl Fatalities in North Carolina.
Family members said the names of victims and their forever ages.
โJesseโs forever age is 26,โ one mom said of a son she lost to fentanyl poisoning.
Families were crying together, hugging each other and remembering loved ones.
Read the article and watch the news segment on the CBS17 web site.
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 districtโs 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.
Hidden Epidemic: US fentanyl crisis worsens – ABC Nightline
Law enforcement, students and parents present dire warnings as the nation continues to see a rise in fentanyl overdose deaths. Aired on ABC Nightline on September 29, 2022.