On November 1, 2023 Barbara Walsh presented the history and mission of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina to the Wake County Overdose Coalition.
Watch Barbara’s presentation on YouTube:
Category: State News
Local mother makes it her mission to spread awareness about illicit fentanyl
Allen Michael “Mikey” Boyd had a “heart of gold” and loved interacting with people with Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities. He was a “beautiful soul with a free spirit” who loved his younger brothers, spending time with friends and skateboarding, his mother, Allena Hale, shares with groups of people she meets at events that raise awareness about the dangers of illicit fentanyl use.
Hale, of Pamlico Beach, lost Boyd to fentanyl poisoning on March 31, 2022 when he was just 22 years old.
Through her work, she hopes to educate people and comfort grieving families who have similar stories of young family members that were kind, smart and funny but met untimely deaths.
What is Fentanyl?
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that is 50 to 100 times more potent than morphine, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Pharmaceutical-grade fentanyl is used by medical professionals to treat patients with severe pain, and is used to treat patients with chronic pain who are “physically more tolerant to other opioids.”
When fentanyl is produced illegally, it is dropped on blotter paper, smoked, snorted/sniffed or made into pills that look similar to other opioids, per the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Continue reading “Local mother makes it her mission to spread awareness about illicit fentanyl”Vance & Adjacent Counties Fentvic Meetup #7 on 11/5/23
FENTANYL VICTIMS’ FAMILIES ORGANIZE TO FIGHT ILLICIT FENTANYL IN NC!
Fentvic Meetup #7 for Vance & Adjacent Counties NC (open to the public)
| Date | Sunday, November 5, from 2-4PM |
| Location | Pentecostal Holiness Church 621 US-158 Bypass Henderson NC 27536 |
Fentanyl crisis needs everyone’s attention
by Rob Schofield, NC Newsline
October 27, 2023
NC Newsline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. NC Newsline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Rob Schofield for questions: info@ncnewsline.com. Follow NC Newsline on Facebook and Twitter.
Guilford County Sheriff’s Office discuss fentanyl at town hall
GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers held a town hall with several senior staffers Monday night to address concerns about the detention center, crime in the county and staffing concerns in the department.
Fentanyl took center stage, though.
“That was the day our whole world came crashing down … Since then, it’s been my mission to bring attention and awareness to fentanyl,” said Debbie Peeden, a grandmother who lost her granddaughter to fentanyl poisoning two years ago.
Continue reading “Guilford County Sheriff’s Office discuss fentanyl at town hall”NC OCME Reports Updated
Fentvic has recieved updated reports from the North Carolina Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). Latest reports can be found here on the Fentvic website.
There were 266 fentanyl-positive deaths in July 2023 compared to 251 in July 2022. Year to date, there is a 6% increase (2,045) compared to this time last year, January to July 2022 (1,926).
Data Source: NC OCME Toxicology data; NC OCME Toxicology is nationally accredited by the American Board of Forensic Toxicology, Inc. NC OCME Toxicology provides forensic analytical testing of specimens for all 100 counties of the statewide medical examiner system. Toxicology results are based on blood, vitreous fluid, or other specimens used for testing at the discretion of the pathologist and/or toxicologist. For additional information regarding these reports, please contact ocme.data.request@dhhs.nc.gov
A UNC student OD’d on Duke campus, and it took a student journalist to bring the story to light
On March 9, 2023, a freshman from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill overdosed on fentanyl outside a Duke University dorm.
She died in a hospital two days later, surrounded by family and friends, according to her obituary.
Very few people knew about her death, until a Duke student journalist started investigating, learning that 19-year-old Grace Burton wasn’t the only UNC student or alum to recently die from fentanyl poisoning.
She wasn’t even the only one to lose her life to an overdose that week. Now federal agents say the same person supplied the drugs to both students.
Duke student and journalist Charlotte Kramon heard about Burton’s on-campus death and figured more information would come out publicly.
But, she says, “There was no announcement; there were very few people outside of some of those who were close to the situation that knew.”
Kramon started looking into the death and charges related to it, publishing her findings along with co-author Michael Hewlett in the online magazine The Assembly.
Continue reading “A UNC student OD’d on Duke campus, and it took a student journalist to bring the story to light”UNC student’s family seeks justice for overdose death
The family of a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill freshman student who died after overdosing on fentanyl-laced cocaine on the campus of Duke University is seeking some justice for their daughter.
So far, no one has been charged in the death of Elizabeth Grace Burton, or Gracie as her family called her. She was 19 years old.
Court documents reveal Burton became “unsteady” and “wobbly on her feet” about an hour after meeting with a suspected drug dealer on March 9 outside a Duke student’s dorm. The former Duke student is Patrick Rowland, who pleaded guilty to a drug distribution charge.
An autopsy revealed Burton died two days after investigators said she met up with Rowland after a party and contacted him to buy cocaine.
Continue reading “UNC student’s family seeks justice for overdose death”The latest college campus freebies? Naloxone and fentanyl test strips
At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, three students stand behind a card table covered in naloxone injection kits. When a curious student leans in and asks what the kits are for, Caroline Clodfelter, one of the co-founders of the student group running the table, explains: “It will reverse an opioid overdose. … So let’s say you’re going out to a frat — stick it in your pocket. It’s easy to just have on you.”
Nearly 600 miles away, at the State University of New York’s Delhi campus, Rebecca Harrington, who works in student affairs, has also been tabling to prevent fentanyl overdoses. Her table, though, is full of colorful cups, a water jug and candies in zip-close bags — tools for her demonstration on how to use a fentanyl test strip. These test strips allow students to see whether a pill has been laced with the deadly synthetic opioid.
Test strips and naloxone are becoming more and more common on college campuses, and at least one health department has recommended they be added to school packing lists. For students who didn’t bring their own, many campuses are handing them out at welcome fairs, orientation events or campus health centers.
As more teens overdose on fentanyl, schools face a drug crisis unlike any other
Fentanyl was involved in the vast majority of teen overdose deaths in 2021, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly a quarter of those deaths involved counterfeit pills that weren’t prescribed by a doctor. And the problem has been following teens onto college campuses.
Students may think they’re taking pills like oxycodone, Xanax or Vicodin. Instead, those pills often have fentanyl in them, resulting in overdoses on campuses across the U.S., from Ohio to Colorado to Oregon. At UNC-Chapel Hill, three students died from fentanyl poisoning in just the last two years.
Continue reading “The latest college campus freebies? Naloxone and fentanyl test strips”A UNC Student’s Overdose Death at Duke
A Carolina freshman was found unconscious in a Duke University dorm room in March and died two days later of a drug overdose. Neither university said anything publicly about her death until contacted by The Assembly.
by Charlotte Kramon and Michael Hewlett
Paramedics rushed into a residence hall on Duke University’s Kilgo quad at about 6:30 a.m. on March 9 and climbed to the third floor of the old stone building around the corner from Duke Chapel. In room 309, they found a pale, chilled body in a puffy jacket, on her back in a twin bed and glistening in a pool of sweat.
The young woman was barely breathing, according to the 911 call log and an investigative report. A trash can sat next to the bed.
After almost an hour of treatment for cardiac arrest, an ambulance took Elizabeth Grace Burton, a business student from Charlotte and member of Zeta Tau Alpha at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to the Duke University Hospital. Two days later, she was pronounced dead. Burton was 19.
A state autopsy says she died of cardiac arrest from a toxic mix of cocaine and alcohol. A private autopsy also found fentanyl and GHB, a depressant that can give feelings of euphoria.
Until contacted by The Assembly, Duke University and UNC-Chapel Hill said nothing publicly about the death. Duke said it deferred to UNC because Burton was a student there, and UNC said it considers the family’s wishes when deciding to release a statement.
No one has been charged with Burton’s death. But Burton’s companion that night, former Duke student Patrick Rowland, has pleaded guilty to using a cell phone to facilitate the distribution of cocaine and marijuana. Rowland, 22, is scheduled to appear in federal court on October 18 for a status hearing and will be sentenced in December.
Rowland could face a civil suit from Burton’s family. He is no longer at Duke. Duke officials won’t say whether he was expelled or left voluntarily.
Continue reading “A UNC Student’s Overdose Death at Duke”