RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) — Fentanyl Awareness Day is being observed Wednesday with new data showing a decline in fentanyl-related deaths — and overall overdose deaths — across North Carolina.
An update from the NCDHHS shows overall overdose deaths in the state fell by 34% between 2023 and 2024, the first decline since 2019. Fentanyl-related deaths peaked at just over 3,300 in 2022 and have declined to fewer than 1,500 last year, according to state data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Advocates say the progress is a good sign — but they’re clear the fentanyl crisis is far from over.
“We now have over 20,000 fentanyl victims in North Carolina, and the families, the victims families have said enough,” Barb Walsh of Cary said.
Walsh lost her daughter, Sophia, to fentanyl in August 2021. Since then, she’s worked with lawmakers to push for changes and founded the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina to help families navigating similar losses.
“So the deaths are still occurring and it may be less, but those families will not take any comfort in knowing that their loved one was not saved,” Walsh said.
That decline in fentanyl-related deaths is part of a broader drop in overdose deaths across the state. According to NCDHHS, overdose deaths involving all drugs fell from more than 4,400 in 2023 to fewer than 3,000 in 2024.
Walsh credited the progress in part to expanded access to naloxone, a drug used to reverse overdoses, and increased public awareness.
“They’re saying the word fentanyl out loud. They’re talking about the life naloxone. They’re elevating the public discussion about naloxone and fentanyl victims. Deaths More importantly, it is treating the victims and their families with dignity and respect,” she said.
Despite the improvement, Walsh said continued efforts are critical.
“It is not time yet to stop talking about trying to save lives together. The work the government is doing, the opioid settlement funds, law enforcement, district attorney’s harm reduction groups, public health, the families who have started nonprofits, all of you, all of us are needed in order to save lives,” she said.
State officials say counties showing the most progress are those using funds from a $1.4 billion opioid settlement, which requires adherence to specific guidelines and reporting standards to access the money.
While the latest data shows a significant decline, advocates say continued coordination across agencies and communities will be key to sustaining the progress.
North Carolina saw infant mortality hit a record low and overdose deaths fall 34% in 2024, driven by Medicaid expansion and increased naloxone distribution.
North Carolina’s infant mortality rate hit an all-time low and overdose-related deaths plummeted in 2024, the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services announced Monday.
A new report shows the infant mortality rate dropped 8.7% from 6.9 to 6.3 deaths per 1,000 births, with the number of deaths decreasing from 828 in 2023 to 770 in 2024. Infant mortality is traditionally defined as the death of an infant before their first birthday.
Drug overdose deaths fell 34%, from 4,442 deaths in 2023 to 2,934 deaths in 2024, the first decline in fatal overdoses since 2019.
State leaders say expanding Medicaid across North Carolina, coupled with more distribution of overdose-reversal medications, drove the nosedive in deaths. But racial disparities persist, and officials say their work isn’t finished.
“We are encouraged by the declines in overdose-related deaths and infant mortality rates in North Carolina, which coincide with recent investments in our health system,” Dr. Kelly Kimple, the director of DHHS’ Division of Public Health, wrote in the report. “However, other trends show that there is still work to be done, and our department remains committed to improving health outcomes for everyone who calls North Carolina home.”
Here’s what the report found.
Infant mortalities drop, but racial disparities persist
State officials say progress on infant mortality was driven by a nearly 15% decrease in neonatal deaths, meaning more babies are surviving “the earliest and most vulnerable” weeks of life.
And two years after North Carolina became the 41st state to expand Medicaid, state leaders say more than 700,000 patients gained access to the critical care they needed, including maternal and infant care.
“This historic decline highlights how Medicaid expansion continues to improve health outcomes for children and families in North Carolina,” the report states.
But as infant mortality rates dropped across the state, rates among non-Hispanic Black infants remained nearly three times higher than among non-Hispanic white infants, according to the report.
Of the 770 infant deaths in 2024, more than 40% were Black children, the report stated. But the mortality rate among Black infants also saw a slight decrease, dropping from 340 deaths in 2023 to 315 in 2024.
“It’s absolutely egregious that we have babies dying as a result of their race or ethnicity in a state like North Carolina where we have excellent care and community-based services,” said Dr. Dorothy Cilenti, a clinical professor at the UNC-Chapel Hill’s Department of Maternal and Child Health and the associate dean of public health practice. “There’s absolutely no reason.”
The report said state officials will continue to target these “unacceptable” disparities through initiatives like the “I Gave Birth” campaign — a collaboration among 48 hospitals and providers to improve postpartum care in the first six to eight weeks after childbirth — and programs for maternal mental health.
Cilenti said it’s “exciting” to see the improving data, which she said is likely due to factors like better practices in childbirth and more investment in women’s health, like a drop in smoking rates during pregnancy.
But keeping infant mortality rates low can only be done by considering the “upstream” inequities of motherhood, Cilenti said, like making a livable wage, having access to healthy food and affordable housing and helping mothers balance breastfeeding with their job — all factors that improve a family’s health.
She said there must be state-wide willingness and attention to bring the mortality rates down in order for the trend to continue.
“It has to be political will,” Cilenti said. “This has to remain a priority. There has to be a complete intolerance for preventable deaths.”
Overdose deaths decrease in 2023
The state in 2024 saw its biggest decline in overdose deaths since 2019, the report states, including a sizable decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths, which fell 38.3%, from 3,656 in 2023 to 2,254 in 2024.
These rates decreased most significantly among Hispanic and Black residents, according to the new data.
State officials attributed the drop to Medicaid expansion and prevention efforts like increased access to naloxone or NARCAN, a fast-acting medication used to reverse overdoses. In 2024, DHHS distributed more than 150,000 doses of reversal medications to organizations across the state.
“As Attorney General, I held big opioid drug companies accountable for their roles in sparking an addiction epidemic that harmed communities across the state, and we secured $1.5 billion to reinvest in those communities to help folks get the care they need while keeping drugs off the streets,” Gov. Josh Stein wrote in the report. “Medicaid expansion is also enabling more people to get the health care they need. This sharp decline in overdose-related deaths is a clear demonstration of the investments North Carolina has made to keep people safe and healthy.”
Total deaths decrease across
NC Deaths in North Carolina declined for the third year in a row after hitting a peak during the pandemic. The state reported 106,603 deaths in 2024, a roughly 1% decrease from 2023 and a steep drop from 118,040 deaths in 2021.
Deaths in the Triangle saw only slight changes in 2024, according to DHHS data. Wake County deaths decreased only nominally, but deaths increased in Orange County by about 8%, from 1,626 in 2023 to 1,769 in 2024.
In Durham County, deaths decreased by about 4%, from 3,954 in 2023 to 3,793 in 2024.
The district said the investment, which is around $21,435.60, was made possible through the support of the county, the Nash County Board of Commissioners, the Nash County Opioid Settlement Advisory Council and the C.A.R.E. Coalition.
“Equipping all 115 Nash County Public School buses with life-saving naloxone and ONEbox overdose response kits demonstrates proactive leadership and a deep investment in protecting children and families across our county,” the district’s transportation leaders said. “This initiative is not just about preparation; it is about prevention, awareness, and ensuring that life-saving tools are accessible when seconds matter most.”
Naloxone is now widely carried by first responders and police. Distribution efforts have also helped make the medication available to community partners. Interim Nash Couty Health Director Liz Lord, who wasn’t invovled in the school bus rollout, said it’s important to make sure the kits are in place as soon as possible.
“Hopefully, they’ll never crack one open on a bus, but if they do need one, it’s there,” Lord said.
Michael Baier, the school district’s director of transportation, said the investment helps him make sure that every child gets to and from school safely.
“We are extremely thankful for Nash County’s support in making this possible,” Baier said. “By equipping all 115 buses with Naloxone and ONEbox kits, we are strengthening our emergency preparedness and reinforcing our commitment to protecting the students entrusted to our care.”
Nash County Public Schools took time to train bus drivers around the district to make sure they know how to use the kits. In 2025, the county provided training to 132 bus drivers and monitors in the district on recognizing the warning signs of an overdose and how to properly administer Naloxone.
Ayone Cooper, a parent with three kids in the school district, said she’s split on the decision. While she sees the benefits of having naloxone on hand, she worries the overdose reversal drug could encourage risky behavior in some children.
“It’s just like you look at it as a child that has an allergy, you know, you want an EpiPen, you want to have access to that EpiPen, and you want to save that child’s life,” Cooper said. “If this were to happen on a school bus, what would we do? We want to save that child’s life.”
More than 99% of students were not involved in a reportable crime on campus, said Michael Maher, chief accountability officer for the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. Most schools reported only zero to five criminal offenses at their school last year, he said.
Criminal offenses went down again in North Carolina schools during the 2024-25 school year, with another significant drop in offenses for weapon possession, new data shows.
The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction released the latest public school crime statistics during the State Board of Education meeting on Wednesday.
The drop in criminal offenses reported reflects ongoing trends, but so does a continued rise in offenses for drug possession.
Total offenses dropped from 12,212 the year before to 11,470 offenses last year, according to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, which released the data Wednesday afternoon.
One hundred and seventy babies, kids and teens in North Carolina died after fentanyl exposure between 2015 and 2024, new state data shows.
Infants, children younger than 5 and teenagers aged 13 to 17 were the most likely to die after fentanyl exposure here during the past decade, according to updated data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
The data, focused on fentanyl-positive deaths between 2015 and 2024, was presented by the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to a committee of the state Child Fatality Task Force last week.
Fentanyl is extremely dangerous because its residue is easy to ingest, and drug paraphernalia like needles or spoon often contains enough fentanyl to kill a small child. In one toddler death cited by the medical examiner’s office, a 1-year-old was exposed to fentanyl left on a cotton ball next to the bed where the mother and child slept.
“Illicit fentanyl really is one of the substances that is predominantly toxic to the pediatric population,” Sandra Bishop-Freeman, chief toxicologist and forensic laboratory director at the state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, told the Charlotte Observer.
Among teenagers, accidental ingestion often comes via other drugs — even borrowing what a teen thinks is a Tylenol from a classmate could lead to an overdose from a laced pill. In a case cited by the medical examiner’s office, a 16-year-old who died of fentanyl overdose took what they thought was Xanax at a party.
More 17-year-olds died than any other group among minors between 2015 and 2024, with 52 lives lost. Infants less than 6 months old had the second-highest death toll, with the total reaching 24.
Among racial groups, American Indian and Black residents experienced the highest number of pediatric fentanyl-positive deaths in the state, the data says.
And loss of life overall in North Carolina is much higher than a decade ago — growing from 243 deaths in 2015 to 1,954 in 2024.
Shown is a fatal dose of the synthetic opioid drug fentanyl. U.S. DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION
Despite pediatric dangers, deaths decline in recent years
There is some good news: Despite the number of fentanyl-related deaths remaining elevated compared to decades past, the rate has begun to slow over the past several years.
Fentanyl deaths among all age groups fell 26% statewide in October 2025 compared to the previous year, with deaths in Mecklenburg County down to 142 from 192.
Overdose deaths have been declining the past two years, CDC data released Wednesday shows. North Carolina’s fentanyl overdose rate among all age groups fell by more than 30% between August 2024 and 2025.
Increased access to preventatives, such as the overdose-reversing nasal spray naloxone, could be helping slow overdose death trends.
The overdose-reversing nasal spray naloxone, also known by its brand name Narcan, has become easier to access in recent years, federal data shows.
A multifaceted prevention strategy has likely helped contributed to the slowdown in overdose deaths in North Carolina, according to Kella Hatcher, executive director of the NC Child Fatality Task Force. Her group has been studying pediatric overdoses for several years.
“You have to keep working on a combination of efforts to make progress, and that’s the case with many [preventable] causes of death,” Hatcher said.
A 2025 Prevention Block Grant funded several primary prevention programs, including youth education efforts that served close to 9,000 during the year. Another program distributed more than 11,000 lock boxes and 15,000 medication disposal kits, according to Tuesday’s presentation.
Opioid settlement dollars are also funding prevention work in many North Carolina counties. The state is receiving $1.4 billion as part of national settlements with opioid companies, money aimed at bringing resources to communities harmed by the opioid epidemic.
The medical examiner’s office will continue to share data with state and county agencies focused on helping curb the preventable childhood deaths, toxicologist Bishop-Freeman said.
“Despite the trends possibly plateauing, these pediatric deaths are still too many,” Bishop-Freeman said.
DAVIDSON COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — Naloxone, commonly known as Narcan, will soon be available at every middle school and high school in Davidson County.
The Board of Education unanimously voted yes for the policy on Monday. Davidson County School officials say the district will take about 30 days for training and implementation.
Naloxone will be available in all 17 middle schools and high schools in Davidson County. A Davidson County parent whose children graduated from the district and currently have four grandchildren in the schools said the measure could save lives.
“Our son … was murdered by fentanyl,” said Lorie Loomis, a Davidson County parent.
Loomis says they have been fighting for naloxone to be available in Davidson County Schools for over two years.
“It’s a victory for the parents in this county,” said Dana Loomis, Lorie Loomis’ husband.
For Dana and Lorie, this isn’t just about policy. It’s about protecting lives.
The naloxone will be provided by the Davidson Medical Ministries at no cost. According to Janise Hurely, the executive director, each school will get two boxes of naloxone.
“The county health assessment says one of the number one issues, and it has been this way for almost 20 years now, is substance use disorder,” Hurley said.
Dr. Greggory Slate, the superintendent of Davidson County Schools, says once implemented, naloxone could be found in schools’ medical kits.
Read the article and watch the video on the WRAL TV News website.
Raleigh police arrested mother Vinus Humphreys and her boyfriend Tyrone Bannerman on felony child abuse charges after her twin 22-month-old children were exposed to fentanyl inside their apartment.
Raleigh police arrested a mother and her boyfriend for child abuse after they said her twin toddlers were exposed to fentanyl inside their apartment.
Vinus Humphreys, 25, and Tyrone Bannerman, 28, are both facing two counts of felony child abuse. Raleigh police responded after 8 p.m. Monday to a home on Lake Hills Drive to a report of an unresponsive child.
EMS was already on scene providing medical aid to a 22-month-old child when, shortly after, the child’s twin also became unresponsive.
First responders administered Narcan to both children and took them to the hospital for further treatment. Their condition is considered stable and are expected to survive.
Narcan is is a medicine that can help people who are overdosing on an opioid.
Raleigh police found drugs, drug paraphernalia and a firearm inside the home, resulting in more charges for Bannerman, including:
Trafficking opium/heroin
Manufacturer of Schedule II controlled substance
Misdemeanor possession of marijuana
The incident raised concerns for Barb Walsh, the executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina. The number of children younger than the age of 5 dying from fentanyl is on the rise. According to the North Carolina Office of the Medical Examiner, 29 children younger than 5 year old died from fentanyl between 2017 and 2022, with 72% of those deaths occurring in 2021 and 2022.
“It breaks my heart,” Walsh said. “I hate to use the word overdosing with a two-year-old because they didn’t know what they were taking.”
Walsh lost her 24-year-old daughter in 2021 to an unintentional fentanyl exposure when a toxic amount of it was in a water bottle. It’s why she’s so involved in advocating for change so other families don’t have to experience this pain.
“We’re making progress,” Walsh said. “That’s all we can hope for.”
Earlier this year, Gov. Josh Stein signed a new law creating new criminal offenses for exposing a child to a controlled substance.
Walsh said it goes much further than the laws in place now.
“They get child abuse or child neglect,” Walsh said. “The new law will be a felony even if they ingest it and are OK. That will save someone else’s life.”
Walsh said the new law is a lot more specific compared to the broader charge of child abuse. However, Humphreys and Bannerman won’t be charged under the new law. While Stein signed it into law in July, it won’t become effective until Dec. 1, which is exactly four weeks after Humphreys’ twins were exposed to fentanyl.
“People who endanger a child with a harmful substance like fentanyl should be held accountable for their actions,” Walsh said. “It will lead to lives being saved. That’s the goal. We want lives saved.”
Humphreys and Bannerman are due in court for their first appearances Wednesday afternoon in Wake County. Authorities are holding both of them without bond.
Supplies, such as the medications naloxone and buprenorphine, carried by Buncombe County community paramedics on the post-overdose response team. Credit: Courtesy of Justin Hall
By Rachel Crumpler
A life lost in Buncombe County in 2022 still weighs on — and motivates — Shuchin Shukla, a family physician who specializes in addiction medicine.
A community paramedic had responded to an overdose involving a person recently released from jail. After reviving them, the paramedic told the patient about a soon-to-launch program that would start people on a medication used to treat opioid addiction after an overdose.
Soon after, the person used again, experienced a second overdose and went into cardiac arrest. They later died at the hospital.
“For the team working on this, the case hit home that every moment of every day matters for patients. At any minute, they’re at risk of dying or having an overdose,” Shukla said. “That’s how critical this is.”
For months, Shukla had been working with Buncombe County Emergency Medical Services to launch Buncombe Bridge to Care, a project to equip paramedics to administer buprenorphine — a medication proven to ease opioid withdrawal symptoms, reduce cravings and support long-term recovery for people with opioid use disorder —when responding to overdoses or others in the community struggling with addiction.
