Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina
Stronger Together! Grassroots campaign against illicit fentanyl in NC IRS recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit public charity EIN: 88-3921380
Imagine if your child went to sleep tonight, never to wake up in the morning. If you can’t, then share this video message.
SAVE A LIFE. The time is NOW. “Fentanyl, which is often hidden in counterfeit pills, is fueling the worst drug crisis in U.S. history. Last year the synthetic opioid killed more than 70,000 Americans.” -60 Minutes on CBS
Just Two Questions has created this video to tell Wilson Moore’s story and raise awareness of the risks of counterfeit pills in America.
Watch the video and read the article on the WRAL TV5 News website.
Naloxone is now widely carried by first responders and police. Distribution efforts have also helped make the medication available to community partners.
Naloxone has quickly become a central part of harm reduction efforts nationally and within North Carolina.
The medication comes in two main forms: an injection and nasal spray. Both work to save lives by reversing the effects of an opioid overdose.
Naloxone is now widely carried by first responders and police. Distribution efforts have also helped make the medication available to community partners.
“Harm reduction is the first line of defense we have. It is the on the ground, in the community response. It is by people with lived experience for people with lived experience,” shared Elyse Powell, executive director of the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition.
Efforts to bring naloxone into school systems are also expanding, including in Wake County Schools. School officials tell WRAL News training efforts are underway to prepare for the distribution of the medication to schools this year.
Continue reading “Naloxone distribution efforts help fight opioid crisis in NC”Read the original article on the News & Observer website (may be behind a pay wall).
Lindsey Humphreys has been recovering from opioid addiction for the last five years, she said.
She’s known people in Wake County who have died from opioids because they didn’t have access to naloxone, a life-saving drug that reverses the effects of opioid overdose.
“I decided to be part of the solution and just started to distribute this,” she said. “I have been doing it for the last couple of years in the memory of some of my friends who passed.”
Humphreys is the executive director of Illuminate NC, an organization that helps distribute naloxone in Wake and Vance counties. Illuminate distributes about 300 naloxone units a month, she said.
Continue reading “Wake County to take fight against opioid addiction and overdoses to the streets”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.”
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.
Continue reading “A new law bans ‘gas station heroin’ in NC. Why is it still on shelves?”Read the original article on the WRAL News5 website.
The State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council drafted model legislation to address a problem they’re seeing among classmates.
Some North Carolina students want to do something about rising drug use and mental health issues among young people.
On Thursday, a student group told the State Board of Education that schools should have wellness teams to help intervene when they see problems.
Sarah Beitar, a member of the State Superintendent’s Student Advisory Council, said she knows someone at her Harnett County high school who overdosed.
“We have freshmen, so children as young as 14 and 15, having to deal with these topics of overdose and making sure that they’re being safe,” she said.
Continue reading “NC schools should have naloxone, train staff on signs of drug abuse, student group says”On May 21, 2024 at the Wake County Public School System board meeting Barbara Walsh spoke on the proposal to have Naloxone in all 200+ schools across Wake County.
Shortly after Barbara’s comments, WCPSS approved emergency use naloxone in all 200 schools! The second reading was waived and the motion PASSED!
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.
Families of people who have died due to fentanyl use urged North Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday to do more to prevent other people from feeling their pain.
Fentanyl deaths are on the rise in North Carolina, state data shows:
October 2023 represented the most recent data the North Carolina Department of Health and Human and Human Services could provide.
Theresa Mathewson, whose son Joshua died in August 2022 at the age of 27 from fentanyl poisoning, was among the families visiting North Carolina lawmakers on Wednesday.
The group is advocating for North Carolina lawmakers to mandate having a box of naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose, in every school in the state. Some people who attended Wednesday’s event said they were confident state leaders will utilize $350,000 of the $350 million in opioid settlement funds that North Carolina received to make it a reality.
Theresa Mathewson said she found her son unresponsive in his bedroom.
“He was getting ready to complete some tasks for a new job,” she said of her late son.
Theresa Mathewson said he son took half of a pill with roughly 14 times the lethal dose of fentanyl in it.
“[It was] enough to kill him and all his closest friends.
“It should be an eye-opener,” said Chelsea Mathewson, who is the sister of Joshua Mathewson.
The Mathewsons have started several grassroots organizations in Harnett County to spread awareness of the dangers of opioid use.
In 2022, more than 4,300 people in North Carolina died from all opioid exposure.
“Part of likes these [events] because I don’t feel alone, but I hate them,” Chelsea Mathewson said. “I absolutely hate them.
“I hate that there’s another mother and father going through it.”
Danielle Erving, whose son died from fentanyl poisoning, also attended Wednesday’s event.
“Nobody deserves this heartbreak because it can happen to anybody,” Erving said.
Jazmine Brown, whose brother died from fentanyl poisoning, echoed Erving’s sentiments.
“Nobody is safe from this, as sad as it is,” Brown said. “That’s the most important thing for people to acknowledge.”
Wake County schools could soon be stocked with Naloxone to treat potential opioid overdoses on campus.
The school board’s policy committee recommended on Tuesday new rules on emergency use of Naloxone. The policy requires schools to train people in how to administer Naloxone and directs Superintendent Robert Taylor to develop a program to place Naloxone at schools, early learning centers and district administrative offices.
“This is fantastic,” said school board member Sam Hershey. “This warms my heart we’re going in this direction. I think it’s crucial. At some point it’s going to hit, and we’ve got to be as ready as we can be.”
Continue reading “How Wake schools aim to ‘be as ready as we can be’ when opioid overdoses happen”