Introduction
North Carolina has seen one of the largest drops in opioid deaths in the country, after the state began receiving $1.4 billion in settlement funds from multiple lawsuits. The Assembly is following how the money is being distributed to communities, what progress has been made, and the challenges that remain to address the opioid crisis.
Use this page to access reporting from The Assembly and its local partners, including INDY Week, CityView, Border Belt Independent, and The Greensboro Thread.
The Lead
How Rural N.C. Lowered Overdose Deaths—But Will Struggle to Keep Pace
After years of fighting rising rates of overdoses, communities have been reversing the trend.
Around the State
GREENSBORO
From Pain to Progress: Examining the Impact of Opioid Funds in Guilford County
Organizations in Guilford County working to help people struggling with addiction could have their work transformed by a historic national settlement worth more than $50 billion.
DURHAM
“An Obligation to the People That We’ve Lost:” How Durham is Confronting Opioids
A conversation with the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition on how the opioid epidemic is changing and county efforts to distribute opioid lawsuit settlement funds to save lives.
Durham Will Put First Opioid Funds Towards Harm Reduction, Mobile Treatment
BORDER BELT
Treatment Courts Like Robeson County’s Give Drug Users a Second Chance
At least 44 counties in North Carolina, including Robeson, have a drug court system aimed at keeping people out of jail. Columbus County recently launched a second-chance program as well.
In Robeson County, Some Drug Users Charged With Crimes Get Help Instead of Handcuffs
FAYETTEVILLE
Fayetteville Allocates $163K in Opioid Settlement Funds for Police Training
Police training joins diversion and recovery programs as city’s overdose deaths climb, expanding diversion and recovery programs funded by opioid settlement dollars through 2038.
New Organizations Funded in Cumberland County’s Latest Release of National Opioid Settlement Dollars
Track the Spending
Wake County
(Raleigh)
Guilford County
(Greensboro)
Durham County
(Durham)
Cumberland County
(Fayetteville)
Robeson County
(Lumberton)
Columbus County
(Whiteville)
Scotland County
(Laurinburg)
Bladen County
(Elizabethtown)
More in The Assembly
A Genius Among Us
Nabarun Dasgupta, a senior scientist at UNC-Chapel Hill and expert on fatal drug overdoses, was awarded a so-called “genius grant.”
Next Dealer Up
As a federal judge anguishes about drug deaths on the state’s college campuses, UNC-Chapel Hill struggles with what comes next.
A New Era In the War on Drugs
North Carolina is getting $1.4 billion to fight the opioid epidemic, but there’s much debate over how to spend it.
