interview Archives - Page 4 of 7 - Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina

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.”

Mom who lost son to fentanyl poisoning urges I-SS Board to put Naloxone in district schoolsMom who lost son to fentanyl

Read the original article on the Iredell Free News website.

**Pictured are Robby Lemons and Stefanie Duck, holding up a picture of her son Timothy “TJ” Cothron Jr., who died in February 2022 from fentanyl poisoning.**

Stefanie Duck will always remember her son, Timothy “TJ” Cothron Jr., as hard working, kind and compassionate.

“He never met a stranger. He was always willing to help anyone who asked and brought light to everyone’s world he entered,” she said.

In February of 2022, about eight months after graduating from South Iredell High School, TJ died from fentanyl poisoning. He was 18.

His mother hopes that by sharing his story she can help prevent other young people from accidentally overdosing.

‘We dropped the ball’: Gaston County couple raises fentanyl awareness in memory of their son

Read the original article (with pictures) and watch the video on the Queen City News website.

GASTONIA, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) – Library shelves are full of all sorts of stories. Some have you on the edge of your seat, others make you laugh or answer pressing questions.

At the Dream Center in Gastonia, a photo book at the Austin Library is an introduction to a bigger story.

“We left one in the library so that students could see who Austin actually was. He was just like them, and that is what I like them to see,” said Tammy Chowdhury.

Her son Austin Chowdhury was well-loved and well-read.

“I feel like he was searching for answers in the world because he read all kinds of things,” Tammy told Queen City News.

The Austin Library is a tribute to the young man who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose at 24.

“It was just a total shock, it didn’t feel real,” Tammy says, taking a breath as she relives that dark day.

PHOTOS: Sen. Thom Tillis leads a roundtable discussion in Wilmington on fentanyl epidemic

The Wilmington Star News published a gallery of photos Senator Thom Tills’ roundtable discussion on the fentanyl epidemic. Read the article and view the pictures on the Wilmington Star News website.

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‘We’re losing ground,’ says Tillis at opioid roundtable in Wilmington

North Carolina ranks number 6 in total drug overdose deaths, with New Hanover County being three times the national average.

Senator Thom Thillis leads a roundtable discussion on the opioid crisis

U.S. Senator Thom Tillis, R-NC, led a roundtable discussion with local elected officials and law enforcement in Wilmington Wednesday on the opioid crisis.

“Nearly a hundred thousand lives are lost every year to opioid, first among them fentanyl,” said Tillis. “We’ve got to figure out how to make headway. We’re losing ground.”

According to a 2020 report from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the majority of the fentanyl that crosses the southern border into the United States originates from China. The report highlights that China remains the primary source of fentanyl, fentanyl-related substances, and fentanyl precursors which are often smuggled through various routes before reaching the U.S.

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A new law bans ‘gas station heroin’ in NC. Why is it still on shelves?

Read the original article and watch the video on WRAL.com.

Health officials and lawmakers have warned consumers about the opioid-like effects of tianeptine. But stores are technically still allowed to continue the sale of the drug — for now.
Gov. Roy Cooper this month signed into law a bill banning the substance known as “gas station heroin.” But the drug is still sitting on shelves around the region.

That’s because North Carolina’s law doesn’t go into effect until Dec. 1. In the meantime, stores are technically still allowed to continue the sale of tianeptine.

Health officials and lawmakers have warned consumers about the opioid-like effects of tianeptine, which, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, has been tied to serious health risks and deaths across the country.

In 2020, there were 151 poison control center cases involving tianeptine, according to the FDA. That’s up from just 11 total from 2000 to 2013.

Concern over the drug led to a rare bipartisan effort to ban the product in North Carolina. Lawmakers in June overwhelmingly voted to approve the removal of tianeptine from store shelves. Cooper signed the bill this month, joining at least nine other states — including border states Tennessee and Georgia — that have passed similar bans.

Fentanyl victims group pushing for Naloxone in all school

Read the original article and watch the video on the Queen City News website.

STATESVILLE, N.C. (QUEEN CITY NEWS) — “I’m doing this because my 24-year-old daughter, Sophia, was killed by fentanyl on August 16th. And I didn’t even know how to spell fentanyl,” said Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina.

She’s been a voice for families suffering the loss of a loved one by fentanyl poisoning.

“It’s just a network of damaged families who are getting together and finding their power and their passion to heal one another, but also to stop that not from killing someone else,” Walsh said.

The network includes counties like Mecklenburg, Rowan, Iredell, and Catawba. Pictures of those who lost their lives to the poisoning lined the walls at the Bristol Road community center.

Many of their families are doing their best to keep their memories alive.

“Fentanyl took my husband on November 2023, And it has changed our whole daily routine. He was in my house every single day walking around and now he’s not,” said Stephanie Triplett. She started “Embers for Ashes” in response to the death of her husband.

“In 2022, my son T.J. passed away of fentanyl poisoning. He had 18 nanograms of fentanyl in his body, which is enough to kill nine people. He had taken what he thought was oxycodone, but it was a pill that had fentanyl. And he’s been gone since 2022,” said Stephanie Duck. She started “TJ’s Story Lives On”

Through tears, families discussed their losses — but also laid out an action plan to save other victims from death – putting naloxone in every school.

“We just don’t know where a young person might encounter fentanyl. And so the safest thing is to have an antidote within the school, just like an ied, just like an EpiPen, just like a fire extinguisher. It’s not expensive. So we’re advocating for doses per school, not just with school resource officers, but as an emergency first aid kit,” Walsh said.

Why Democrat Josh Stein’s new campaign ad for NC governor features a Trump voter

RALEIGH

A new ad promoting North Carolina Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein’s response to the fentanyl crisis will start running during the Olympics opening ceremony on Friday.

Stein is the Democratic nominee for governor and running against Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. In the new television and digital ad airing first on Peacock, NBC’s streaming service, a mother talks about her son who died from an accidental fentanyl overdose after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl.

The ad features Debbie Dalton of Cornelius talking about her late son Hunter, who grew up on Lake Norman. Hunter Dalton, 23, graduated from UNC Charlotte in 2016, moved to Raleigh and died that same year. His family and friends started The Hunter Dalton #HDLife Foundation in his memory.

Dalton has spoken at news conferences with Stein in his role as attorney general.

In the ad, Dalton praises Stein for his work on the fentanyl crisis as attorney general and talks about Hunter as “an amazing young man and just loved life. He was my entire world. He made a bad decision that night. If our son had known about fentanyl, he would still be with us today. And it shocked us to our core, shocked our community to the core,” she said.

“Attorney General Josh Stein stood up for families like mine, worked with law enforcement, and worked across party lines to attack the fentanyl crisis. I knew from the minute that I met him that this is a man that is compassionate and concerned and committed,” Dalton said.

CBS17 coverage of Fentvic Meetup #12

On Saturday June 1st, CBS17 was on hand to cover Fentvic Meetup #12 in Durham, North Carolina. Watch their coverage:

Davidson County nonprofit pushes for opioid overdose-reversing drug in all NC schools

Narcan is becoming more readily available in public places, including this free vending machine in the Forsyth County Detention Center. PAUL GARBER/WFDD

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.