Drug Overdose Deaths

Over the past six years, overdose deaths among Black and Hispanic residents have risen sharply. So has the number of trips to the emergency department because of overdoses. To tackle the crisis, the county has launched two new programs. In part three of WFAE’s series, we speak with doctors, drug users, and county staff about their plans with the nearly $75 million they expect to receive over the next 18 years to address the opioid crisis.

Overdose deaths continue to impact Mecklenburg County residents. Over the past six years, with the exception of last year, overdose deaths among Black and Hispanic residents have risen sharply each year. In part one of WFAE’s series, we explored how job loss and loss of loved ones turn some residents to drugs. In part two, we talk with researchers who test the drugs and with those who say they sold drugs to understand why.

Overdose deaths among Black and Hispanic residents have risen sharply in Mecklenburg County over the past six years. At the same time, overdose deaths among white residents have fluctuated. In part one of a three-part series, WFAE explores the crisis.

Republicans hope to save a lot of tax dollars by cutting Medicaid. Drug policy experts say as many as a million Americans in treatment for addiction could lose coverage.

As drug experts parse the data trying to understand the factors that could contribute to a sudden drop in overdose deaths, harm reductionists in western North Carolina work to stave off a possible spike in overdoses after the destruction brought by Hurricane Helene.

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police held a news conference about how fentanyl is a growing problem in Mecklenburg County on Monday.

"There were 107,000 deaths [overdose] nationwide" last year, CMPD Lt. Sean Mitchell said. "In Charlotte, we had 213 deaths and 88% of those were tied to fentanyl.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention predicts North Carolina will see a 43% jump in overdose deaths compared to 2020. Overdose deaths have spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 93,000 people died of a drug overdose in the U.S. last year, according to new CDC data. Fentanyl and other synthetic opioids accounted primarily for the rise, which the pandemic exacerbated.

Researchers say cocaine, meth and other street drugs are increasingly contaminated with deadly synthetic opioids, contributing to a major spike in deaths.