McDowell County is slated to receive roughly $200,000 a year over the next 18 years from a massive national opioid settlement. Community leaders say they want to ensure the money goes directly toward helping residents affected by the drug epidemic. Margarita Ramirez, executive director of Centro Unido Latino-Americano, said the state s Latino community has been hard hit by opioid misuse, but language barriers often prevent people from seeking help. .
Advocates and faith groups are calling for more investments in harm reduction across the state, as new provisional data shows overdose deaths have increased statewide by 26%. It is estimated more than 3,900 people lost their lives to drug overdoses last year. Elizabeth Brewington, associate director for partners in health and wholeness overdose response at the North Carolina Council of Churches, said communities are feeling the impacts of devastating loss. .
Death rates in Maine have been on the rise among people who use drugs, not only from overdoses but also complications due to injection drug use. Currently in Maine, syringe-service programs will only give someone the number of syringes that are being recovered, but advocates have noted this can be limiting, especially in a state as rural as Maine. When people don t have an adequate amount of safe-use supplies, said June Evergreen, who is in recovery and runs the syringe-service program at the Maine Health Equity Alliance, they re more likely to reuse or share syringes. .