Read the full press release on the NC Deparment of Justice web site.
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Where are fentanyl victims’ rights?
Drug-induced homicide killed my son
By Kristy Dyroff – – Thursday, April 27, 2023
OPINION:
Victims of drug-induced homicide and their affected family members are not given the resources and recognition they deserve. I know this because I am one.
Wesley, my son, was a 22-year-old college student in 2007 when he injured his knee playing football with friends. As his mother, I sent him to our family physician for care. This was when our nightmare began. My son was prescribed increasingly higher doses of opioids for the pain, caught in the spiral of greed initiated by Purdue Pharma. Our entire family struggled through his addiction as he valiantly fought his way through half a dozen rehab programs, intensive outpatient programs, halfway houses and Narcotics Anonymous. He finally found success at a faith-based, nine-month rehab program, where he developed his own faith and strength. I was overjoyed to have my kind, thoughtful, beautiful son back as the amazing gentle giant he had grown to be.
On Aug. 19, 2015, when my husband and I found him dead in his home after being sober for two years, I was devastated by the grief.
Bill calls for tougher penalties for opioid, fentanyl dealers
Additional coverage of this bill can be found on the following:
Lawmakers, families fight for harsher punishment to combat fentanyl crisis
Read the full article and watch the video segment on the WRAL TV5 web site.
Senators move to increase punishments as fentanyl (overdoses) poisonings rise
Fentanyl And Fentanyl Pills Have Transformed The Drug Landscape Since 2015
This info-graphic was created by the Partnership for Safe Medicines. Additional verisons and sizes are available on their web site.
Treasury Sanctions Sinaloa Cartel Network
NC Family Summit Media Coverage
The NC Family Summit received substancial press coverage.
CBS 17 News
WRAL TV5 News
NC Policy Watch
WRAL TV5 Coverage of Family Summit
RALEIGH, N.C. — More than 40 families came together Saturday at the Public Safety and Justice Conference at NC State University.
Eight North Carolinians die each day from fentanyl poisoning, and over 13,376 died from fentanyl from 2013 to November 2022.
Barb Walsh, founder and executive director of the Fentanyl Victims Network of North Carolina, lost her daughter 24-year-old daughter, Sophia, to fentanyl poisoning. Now she’s trying to connect others who’ve lost loved ones to fentanyl.
“Other people who lost a child to fentanyl, or loved one, they shouldn’t stand alone,” Walsh said. “I felt like we would all be stronger if we stood together.”
Read the article and watch the video on the WRAL Tv5 web site.
Fentanyl seized in Carolinas increased 15000% in two years, federal data shows
Last year in both North and South Carolina, federal officers seized 18.75 pounds of the synthetic opioid. That’s more than they located the previous two years combined.
At least 2,500 North Carolinians died from fentanyl overdoses last year, according to the latest state data out this month. The data is only through September of 2022 as the state’s Department of Health and Human Services is still processing information for last year so it is likely this number will climb even higher.
The synthetic drug is now a major focus for law enforcement agencies across the state as it continues devastating communities in and families.
Over the last five years, the number of people dying from overdoses increased significantly. Fatal overdoses in North Carolina jumped 66% from 2018, state data shows. Last year, the crisis claimed the lives of more than 4200 people in the state.
“Fentanyl is really the most dangerous thing that we’ve seen in decades,” said Mike Prado, the deputy special agent in charge for Homeland Security Investigations in the Carolinas.
Read the full story and watch the video on the WRAL TV web site.