Report: Says a national issue is getting worse in North Carolina

Thousands of people have died as a result of drug overdoses since the start of the pandemic. Overdose deaths in North Carolina increased by approximately 40% between April 2020 and April 2021.

According to state records, more than 10,000 other North Carolinians have died from drug overdoses. Showing the new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the issue has worsened in the last year.

Between April 2020 and April 2021, over 100,000 people perished in the United States as a result of drug overdoses. During that time, the national overdose death rate increased by 27%. It increased by 37% in North Carolina.

Read more: North Carolina community concerned as a sinkhole double in size

While the figures are staggering, addiction medicine specialists, scholars who study drug use and policy, and harm reduction outreach workers say the increase is concerning but not surprising.

It’s most likely the number of causes, some of which have been in place for a long time, all of which have been compounded by the nearly two-year-long pandemic. First and foremost, experts say, the proliferation of fentanyl is to blame.

“Fentanyl has more or less taken over,” said Jana Burson, an addiction medicine physician in North Wilkesboro. “It used to be very hard to find heroin, let alone fentanyl, out in the rural areas. But now, that’s about all I see. It elevates the risk because it’s so much more powerful.”

Fentanyl test strips are distributed by Olive Branch and other harm reduction organizations to help control this danger.

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