The opioid crisis has ravaged communities and families across the Carolinas. Watch this Queen City News special report on fentanyl in the Carolinas on YouTube.
Tag: barb walsh
Fentanyl trafficking is big business in the Queen City. Feds want to run it dry.
Read the original article on the Charlotte Observer website.
By Julia Coin of the Charlotte Observer.
Charlotte’s fentanyl problem has prompted federal attention and intervention. Officials involved in a U.S. Treasury program rolled out under President Joe Biden met in Charlotte Wednesday to join private and public leaders — from federal agents to sheriffs to bankers — to learn how to better shut down fentanyl traffickers’ business operations.
Charlotte — the country’s second-largest banking center — was one of the first seven U.S. cities the program, called PROTECT, visited since it launched in May. It is focused almost entirely on finding fentanyl dealers and suppliers and severing them from their money.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of North Carolina has a similar program in place, but the federal involvement will enhance how information is shared between private and public sectors — or between federal agents, sheriffs and bankers, officials said. It is designed to give prosecutors more insight into how dealers move money, from quick ATM deposits to big bank account transfers.
Fentanyl has killed 37,000 North Carolinans in the last two decades, according to N.C. Department of Justice data.
The highly addictive and lethal synthetic opioid has flooded communities around Charlotte and overwhelmed local jails, police departments, courts and even classrooms, The Charlotte Observer previously reported.
Grassroots organizations, like the nonprofit Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, tackle the trickle-down effect of fentanyl’s pervasiveness.
“A person like me — a person with a dead kid — I’m worried about getting dealers off the street,” said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the nonprofit.
The U.S. Treasury Department exists in a different sphere, she said, but those spheres can’t stay separate for much longer.
“If there’s nobody else at the national level trying to help,” she said, “then what we’re doing won’t matter.”
Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, in an interview with The Charlotte Observer, said the department is focused on cutting the drug off at its source.
“If you are a drug dealer or if you are someone who’s running a distribution network,” he said, “you should know, and your family should know that we’re going to come after the money you are making by selling these drugs into these communities and killing our local citizens.”
Man connected to fentanyl overdose death of Wilson teen appears in court on Tuesday
Read the original article and watch the video on the WRAL TV5 News website.
The man accused of killing a teenager through fentanyl distribution appeared in court on Tuesday in Wilson County. Albert Wilson Green, 23, appeared before a judge on Tuesday. In May, authorities charged Green in connection to the 2023 death of a 17-year-old in Wilson.
The man accused of killing a teenager through fentanyl distribution appeared in court on Tuesday in Wilson County.
Albert Wilson Green, 23, appeared before a judge on Tuesday. In May, authorities charged Green in connection to the 2023 death of a 17-year-old in Wilson.
Several family members of victims of fentanyl poisoning were outside the courthouse on Tuesday, including Felicia Puente Castro, the mother of Jacob Castro.
“He was young … full of life,” she said.
Wilson police officers found Jacob Castro, who was 17 at the time, unresponsive and not breathing on Sept. 25, 2023, at a home on Hillcrest Drive. Castro died at the scene.
During their investigation, authorities determined Castro died as a result of fentanyl intoxication. Officers identified Green as the man responsible for selling Castro narcotics at the time of his death.
“He believed he was purchasing one thing, but he got fentanyl,” Castro’s mother said. “We believe that Albert Green knew what he was selling Jacob.”
In October 2023, Authorities arrested and charged Green with one count of selling and delivering schedule II-controlled substance related to Castro’s death. In May, authorities added a charge of felony death by distribution.
Green turned himself in on May 29. Nearly a dozen people arrived in a courtroom Tuesday to support Castro’s family as Green and his lawyer asked a judge for a trial.
“It’s hard to look at him and know that one person can cause so much damage,” Felicia Castro said. “Not only for me and Issac, but to our group and so many in our group behind us.”
One of those people supporting Felicia Castro was Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. Walsh founded the group one year after her daughter passed away from drinking out of a water bottle with traces of fentanyl.
“It’s just like a chocolate chip cookie; we don’t know where the chocolate chips are going to end up,” Walsh said. “We don’t know where the fentanyl ends up in a pill. You could cut it in half. One person takes half [and] the other person takes half. One dies, one lives. It’s not worth the risk.”
North Carolina lawmakers passed legislation towards the end of 2023, which made it easier for law enforcement to charge and prosecute people suspected of distributing drugs linked to overdose deaths.
The law also no longer requires proof that drugs were sold to the victim in the case of a fatal overdose, just that the suspect supplied the drugs.
The law went into effect on Dec. 1.
While the law now makes it easier to prosecute drug dealers for overdose deaths, it still could take families months to determine whether a family member died from an overdose.
In June, WRAL Investigates received exclusive access to the chief medical examiner’s office and forensic toxicology lab. The lab said they have jurisdiction over all sudden, unexpected, violent and suspicious deaths in the entire state.
According to Chief Medical Examiner Michelle Aurelius, at least 15,000 family members are still waiting to learn the cause of death of a loved one, with Aurelius saying drug overdose deaths are surging.
“When we look back at 2016 for the fentanyl-positive deaths here in North Carolina, we’ve gone up 584%,” she said.
Felicia Castro said her son will always be with her, and she hopes she can give him a sense of justice with Green behind bars.
“Justice looks like [Green] spending time in prison for his crime,” she said. “Justice looks like no more young people dying from fentanyl … no more children.”
Green told WRAL News at the courthouse that he had no comment on his case. He is due in court again on Dec. 10.
Raleigh mother and unborn child’s suspected fentanyl deaths a dark reminder of drug’s pull
Read the original article and watch the video on the WRAL TV5 News website.
Newly-released warrants reveal a Raleigh mother and her unborn baby were among the latest overdose cases as they each died from fentanyl overdoses. The latest data serves as a warning for parents.
Seventeen North Carolinians die from an overdose each day.
It’s part of a troubling trend in our state.
Newly released warrants reveal a Raleigh mother and her unborn baby were among the latest cases as they each died from fentanyl overdoses. The latest data serves as a warning for parents.
Barbara Walsh knows the danger of fentanyl, a toxic poison her daughter died from unintentionally in August of 2021.
“Basically, you have a murder with no weapon,” Walsh said. “Fentanyl puts someone to sleep like a dog.”
Sophia drank what she thought was water in a bottle – except it was laced.
“This young woman was 24 years old, Apex High School grad, Appalachian State grad, professionally employed,” said Walsh.
A new search warrant issued by Raleigh police describes a recent suspected fentanyl death of a mother and her unborn child. It happened at an apartment in southeast Raleigh.
Police responded to a woman in cardiac arrest on Aug. 14.
A man inside the apartment told police that she took fentanyl and that he last saw her watching a movie on her phone about an hour earlier before finding her unresponsive.
Wake County EMS administered Narcan, a drug that reverses the symptoms of an opioid overdose.
But the mother and her unborn baby died.
“We are seeing about 3,600 per year die, every year it’s getting larger until this year,” Walsh said.
According to the office of the state medical examiner, there were 193 fentanyl positive deaths in May alone in North Carolina.
Despite that, yearly data is showing a downward trend. There were 3,354 fentanyl deaths in 2022, 3,341 in 2023 and 1,008 so far in 2024.
With this week being International Overdose Awareness Week, she’s hopeful parents can continue to educate their children about the dangers of fentanyl – an odorless, tasteless drug.
“Right now, 7 out of 10 pills not from a pharmacist contain fentanyl,” Walsh said. “Most people don’t know it’s in their pill, a vape or a drink.”
Barb Walsh. Say Fentanyl Out Loud Without Shame. Day of Recovery. Lexington, NC on 8/10/2024
Barb Walsh Executive Director of fentvic.org urges Davidson County School Board to install naloxone in ALL schools to save student lives from fentanyl. Race Against Drugs Day of Recovery event in Lexington, North Carolina on August 10, 2024.
New opioid overdose plan approved unanimously for Wake County Public School System
CARY, N.C. (WTVD) — There’s a push to get a life-saving medication in every Wake County school.
Wake County Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve a new Naloxone policy.
Last month, Wake County school board members approved a new policy that requires all county schools to keep a supply of Naloxone – also known by its brand name Narcan – and train faculty members on how to use it.
Before the vote, school resource officers already carried Narcan, but not every Wake County school has an SRO. The newly approved plan requires at least three staff members at each school to be trained and able to administer the drug in case of an emergency. However, it fell short of requiring Naloxone to be kept on campus.
According to state health data, Naloxone was used for suspected overdoses 21 times on schools’ ground statewide in 2023.
“If we have a tool that can save a life, particularly one of our student’s lives,” Chris Heagarty, Wake County School board chair, said, “we want to do everything we can to take those steps.”
Under the new plan, each school principal will designate three or more people on their staff as a part of a medical care program. Those designated people will receive initial training and annual training on how to properly store naloxone, as well as how to administer it.
Each school principal will also need to come up with an emergency action plan for the use of naloxone that complies with all state laws.
“There’s definitely been people at my school that do drugs and it would be best if we had something like that on campus. God forbid something happens,” Cary High School student Emily Ranft said.
“I personally think it should be available in every school. Just because you never know. Better safe than sorry,” Dr. Collin Welteroth said.
This policy is personal for some Wake County mothers.
Barb Walsh, back in December, urged the school board to consider requiring Naloxone be put in schools countywide.
Walsh’s daughter Sophia, died nearly three years ago from fentanyl poisoning. She was drinking from a water bottle that had the dangerous opioid mixed into it.
She made it her mission to not only support families like hers but also promote the life-saving medicine Naloxone.
“It doesn’t take an army. It doesn’t take a lobbyist,” Walsh said to ABC11 in April. “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.”
Tuesday’s Wake County school board meeting starts at 1 p.m.
Wake County Schools to consider implementing naloxone emergency use plan
The Wake County School Board is set to consider a proposal that would designate specific people on school campuses to be trained in administering naloxone in the event of an overdose emergency. However, it does not guarantee the availability of naloxone in every school.
Barb Walsh has dedicated her days to fighting the opioid epidemic. She has been steadfast in her pursuit for justice and bringing awareness to fentanyl fatalities and their families.
Walsh said her daughter Sophia died after drinking a water bottle with fentanyl in it. Now, she’s working to get naloxone in every school in the state.
“She could’ve been saved by naloxone, but she wasn’t,” Walsh told WRAL News. “She died instantly.”
Naloxone reverses the effects of opiates. On Tuesday, the Wake County School Board will consider implementing a naloxone emergency use plan.
Right now, school resource officers carry naloxone, but not every Wake County school has one.
“If [SROs] did receive that call to respond, and they were on campus, they will be able to arrive within minutes to be able to administer that Narcan, if needed,” said Sgt. Jeremy Pittman, with the Wake County Sheriff’s Office.
Read more: Wake County Schools to consider implementing naloxone emergency use planIn the proposal, it says principals would designate specific people on campus who would get training to administer it in the event of an emergency.
“Naloxone devices will be stored in secure but unlocked and easily accessible locations. Each school principal shall designate one or more school personnel, as part of the medical care program under G.S. 115C-375.1, to receive initial training and annual retraining from a school nurse or qualified representative of the local health department regarding the storage and emergency use of naloxone devices. The training shall include basic instruction and information on how to administer naloxone. Only such trained personnel are authorized to administer naloxone to persons believed to be having an overdose reaction, “ it reads.
Additionally, the principal would collaborate with “appropriate school personnel” to create an emergency action plan, including a school-wide employee training to recognize the symptoms of an opioid overdose.
However, each school would not be required to have it.
“This policy also does not guarantee availability of naloxone devices at school, and students and parents/guardians should consult with their own physician(s) regarding such medication(s). Nothing in this policy should be construed to require the presence or use of naloxone on school property or at school sponsored events, unless otherwise required by law. The Board cannot and does not guarantee that naloxone or a person trained in its use will be available at any particular school site or school-sponsored event,” the proposal reads.
That’s because the drug comes with a price tag, according to a district spokesperson. The spokesperson said the district is still working to identify funding to get the drug in every school. The current budget does not reflect funding for naloxone in each school. However, it could change.
According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, “Opioid overdose on school grounds increased this school year, with 21 incidents of naloxone use.”
Of the 115 school districts in the state, 22 have a district-wide program supported with local policy and procedure, according to NCDHHS.
“Naloxone in schools is a safety policy,” Walsh said. “We have AEDs in schools; we have EpiPens in schools; we have fire extinguishers in schools. Naloxone is not different.”
Walsh said people also need to change their attitudes.
“Everybody gets judged. That judgment is the person, the victim, is somehow at fault, that they’re less than,” she said. “It is a medical emergency. That person’s life could be saved.”
Additionally, Walsh said implementing naloxone in each school will bring wider awareness to the issue in general.
“You’re also educating about the symptoms of fentanyl,” she said. “They’ll have more tools in their toolbox.”
The board has been supportive of the proposal in previous meetings. A final vote will be required after Tuesday’s meeting.
Read the article and watch the video on the WRAL TV5 News website.
Parents of overdose victims press lawmakers for better Good Samaritan laws
By Jennifer Fernandez
GREENSBORO — Randy Abbott lost his daughter to a drug overdose in 2015.
No one called for help in time.
Diannee Carden’s son died from a heroin overdose in 2012.
No one called for help in time.
As North Carolina continues to lose more people to overdoses every year — a record 4,339 in 2022 — parents and families are calling for a change in state laws that they say would encourage people to call for help, even if they had used drugs themselves or had supplied the potentially fatal dose.
“We do not support the current approach of tougher criminality in prison for the non drug dealer who participates in an overdose event,” Carden said Wednesday during a news conference on the changing legal landscape of the opioid epidemic.
“We cannot be quiet. We will continue, as family members who have lost someone to overdose, to speak out. We want policies that work to keep people alive with compassion, support and harm reduction,” added Carden, who founded ekiM for Change after her son’s death (the organization’s name honors her son Mike, using his name spelled backwards). The Pitt County-based nonprofit provides a variety of harm reduction services, from clean needles and naloxone to fentanyl test strips and HIV testing.
Abbott spoke earlier in the week at a news conference in Greensboro to release the results of a new survey from Expand Good Sam NC that showed likely North Carolina voters also want to see changes in the state’s Good Samaritan law.
“In a drug overdose event, voters clearly state that greater emphasis needs to be placed on saving an overdose victim’s life instead of charging someone with a drug offense,” said Abbott, coalition coordinator and a parent advocate.
Good Samaritan law poll
Expand Good Sam NC is a coalition of organizations from across the state proposing key changes to the state’s Good Samaritan law that they say will encourage people to call for assistance without fear of penalty.
The group commissioned a poll of likely voters conducted by phone last month by Strategic Partners Solutions, a Raleigh-based consulting firm. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Among its findings:
- At least three-quarters of the 600 voters surveyed, from across the political spectrum, agreed that “Saving the life of someone who has overdosed should be more important than catching the person who supplied the drugs.”
- Over two-thirds of the voters across all demographic subsets agree that a person who calls 911 for assistance in a drug overdose situation should not be charged with possession as long as they are not a drug trafficker.
- These voters also overwhelmingly agree (75.5 percent) on providing protection to university students who call to report an overdose.
- Nearly two-thirds (66.2 percent) of the surveyed voters agree that a person should not be charged with “death by distribution” if they called for assistance.
Of the randomly selected people surveyed, close to two in five said they have had a friend or family member die from an overdose, something that was more common for the people from rural areas.
Mary O’Donnell has long supported expanding the state’s Good Samaritan laws. Her son Sean died in 2017 after passing out while drinking with friends at a quarry near his Chatham County home. Frightened, his friends left him behind. He later fell into the quarry and drowned.
She encouraged supporters to let lawmakers know they want to see changes in the laws to help prevent more deaths.
Abbott said the changes are needed.
“We’re losing a generation,” he said. “We’re losing lives every day.”
N.C. changes laws
Last year, North Carolina legislators joined a growing list of states that have strengthened “death by distribution” laws. At the same time, the state broadened its Good Samaritan law to grant limited immunity from prosecution for possession of up to one gram of any drug. Previously, only certain drugs such as cocaine and heroin were covered.
Abbott and Expand Good Sam NC said the changes to the Good Samaritan law don’t go far enough.
And Carden said making distribution laws harsher went too far.
They believe harsher punishments only put more lives at risk because people who fear getting charged for drug use are less likely to help someone who is overdosing.
Barb Walsh, executive director of Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, isn’t happy with some of the changes to the state’s Good Samaritan law for a different reason: The expansion to all drugs includes fentanyl, which is highly potent and is the leading cause of overdoses in North Carolina.
Fentanyl is the drug that killed her 24-year-old daughter in 2021 when she unknowingly drank a bottle of water laced with the drug. No one has been charged in her daughter’s death.
Just two milligrams of fentanyl can be lethal.
“I disagree with that policy but went along with it to get the modified law passed,” Walsh said, adding that she thinks possession of illicit drugs as potent as fentanyl that could kill so many people is wrong.
She has been focusing her harm reduction efforts on getting the lifesaving opioid-reversal drug naloxone into the state’s schools.
Naloxone in schools
Last week, Walsh hosted a Fentanyl Awareness Day in Raleigh at the General Assembly. More than 75 families met with legislators to talk about their concerns and to encourage support for efforts like getting naloxone in schools.
The next day lawmakers introduced two bills that would appropriate $350,000 from state Opioid Settlement Funds to send naloxone to all of the state’s schools.
However, since school boards make policy decisions on the use of naloxone, Walsh said her organization is working on encouraging school systems to take advantage of the availability of the opioid-reversal drug.
She said Wake County Public Schools is considering a plan to approve having naloxone in all of its schools and may vote on it later this month.
The district, the largest in the state, already allows school resource officers to carry naloxone. The school district’s policy committee is recommending training some staff members in every school on recognizing signs of an opioid emergency and on using naloxone, according to news reports.
Last school year, school nurses, staff or SROs administered naloxone 21 times on school grounds in the state, according to the annual School Health Services Report Brochure. The year before, it was used 14 times.
‘Unrelenting disease’
North Carolina families that shared their stories of loss at the two events this week said they want lawmakers to decriminalize drug possession, increase harm reduction and addiction services, open overdose prevention centers, and provide evidence-based voluntary treatment options.
Recovery was what her daughter strived for, said Caroline Drake, community engagement coordinator for Guilford County Solution to the Opioid Problem.
“She was a beautiful, caring, timid, sweet girl who wanted nothing but to love and be loved, to be free of this unrelenting disease,” Drake said of her daughter Kaitlyn, who died in 2020 at age 23. “She tried to outrun it many times, but it always seemed to catch up to her.”
Drake said GCStop was always there for her daughter when she was in active addiction. So it felt natural to her to give back when she was in recovery. She was volunteering up until the week before she relapsed and fatally overdosed.
“The road that brought me here is not one that I would ever have chosen but will continue to travel it in hopes to be able to spare another family from this unending pain,” Drake said.
She said she also wants to spare another person “who doesn’t deserve to die” because someone is afraid they’ll be punished “for simply doing the right thing — calling for help.”
This article first appeared on North Carolina Health News and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Families of victims of fentanyl overdoses rally for education, Naloxone 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.
Barb Walsh is the executive director for Fentanyl Victims Network and is leading the charge.
“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.
Read the full article and watch the video clip on the WRAL TV5 website.
Family & friends of fentanyl victims gather to remember loved ones
WFMY News 2 was on hand for the Fentvic meetup in Winston-Salem on Saturday.