Drugs

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.

Mecklenburg County has launched a new post-overdose response team that will begin this month their efforts to reduce the number of deadly overdoses in the area.

Mecklenburg County is set to receive almost $75 million over the next 18 years to tackle the opioid crisis. To help people understand how those funds are being allocated, officials held a community meeting on Monday on how they plan to spend $28.5 million of it through the 2028 fiscal year.

Threats to $140 million in funds for public health departments battling fentanyl overdoses comes as some experts see the addiction safety net unraveling.

"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.”

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

When Alamance County Sheriff Terry Johnson described last week’s shootout that killed a Union County charter school teacher, he referenced Mexican drug cartels and called the incident “almost like an old Western shootout."

The number of drug overdose deaths in North Carolina surged 22.5 percent last year, the second highest increase in the country.That’s according to…

A tip from Charlotte police to Lancaster authorities led to the seizure of four pounds of heroin valued at half a million dollars.South Carolina Law…