More than two years after local governments in North Carolina began receiving opioid settlement funds, Dare County has used its share of the funds to distribute naloxone, hire a probation officer, send residents to programs of opioid treatment and start a public awareness campaign, among many. other initiatives.

Dare County has been proactive with its opioid settlement funds, said Roxana Ballinger, health education and community manager for Dare County Health and Human Services.

The county spent more than $800,000 of its opioid settlement funds on 11 strategies between summer 2022 and summer 2024, according to the North Carolina Opioid Regulation board.

“There’s no silver bullet, so we have to spend our money wisely,” said Ballinger, who is also co-chair of the Saving Lives Task Force, a Dare County nonprofit that fights opioid use disorder.

Dare County will receive more than $6.2 million in opioid settlement funds from 2022 to 2036, according to board. North Carolina will receive about $1.5 billion.

Local governments may spend opioid settlement funds on Schedule A or Schedule B strategies.

Annex A, or “high-impact,” strategies include evidence-based addiction treatment, recovery housing support, naloxone distribution, and syringe service programs.

Dare County spent nearly $200,000 to distribute naloxone, an opioid overdose reversal drug, $100,000 for a full-time probation officer for a recovery court, nearly $64,000 for an overdose response team and $24,000 for three people undergoing treatment for opioid use disorder. for three months, according to county reports.

Without a full-time probation officer, the recovery court could not function, Ballinger said.

The more than 100 Annex B strategies include supporting mobile intervention, providing training for healthcare providers on responsible opioid prescribing, and funding media campaigns to prevent opioid abuse.

Between October 2022 and June 2023, Dare County spent $40,000 in opioid settlement money on a “Fentanyl Kills” public awareness campaign, including radio ads, a billboard in Manteo, and posters and stickers with a QR code to a lot of information, according to a county. report.

The county is continuing its “Fentanyl Kills” campaign, but no longer needs the opioid settlement money to do so, Ballinger said.

“We couldn’t fund, support and do some of the work we do without the opioid settlement funds,” Ballinger said.

However, not all programs in Dare County that fight opioid use disorder and the spread of fentanyl are funded with opioid settlement money.

Instead, they are funded by grants from organizations such as the Outer Banks Community Foundation, North Carolina Health and Human Services and the Pirate’s Cove Billfish Foundation.

Last month, the Lifesaving Task Force and Dare County Health and Human Services unveiled the Mobile Recovery Support Unit, which is staffed by two peer support specialists who provide naloxone, fentanyl test strips and testing fast track for HIV and hepatitis C to help disadvantaged and rural people. parts of the county, Island Free Press reported.

The Outer Banks Community Foundation awarded Dare County Health and Human Services a $9,000 grant to stock the unit with supplies, and Easterseals PORT Health, an organization that helps families with medical services, donated the vehicle, Island Free Press reported.

The overdose death rate in Dare County increased between 2016 and 2022. In 2016, five people in Dare County died of overdoses, while 20 people died of overdoses in 2022, according to the state. DATA.

In 2022, death by overdose the rate for North Carolina was 41 per 100,000 people. That same year, the overdose death rate for Dare County was 54 per 100,000 people.

Eighty percent of Dare County’s overdose deaths are now from fentanyl, Ballinger said.

Between 2000 and 2022, more than 36,000 North Carolinians died of a drug overdose, according to the state. DATA.

North Carolina was part of it national settlements against drug distributors – Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen – drug manufacturers – Johnson & Johnson, Allergan and Teva – and pharmacies – Walgreens, CVS and Walmart.

In June, the Supreme Court ruled against a multi-state settlement with the Sacklers, the owners of Purdue Pharma and the makers of OxyContin, News & Observer reported. The proposed settlement would have added about $100 million to North Carolina’s opioid settlement fund.

North Carolina split 85 percent of its $1.5 billion among the state’s 100 counties and municipalities with populations over 75,000, while the remaining 15 percent remained at the state level.

The state used a national allocation model to allocate opioid settlement funds among local governments based on the percentage of residents in a county with opioid use disorders, the percentage of residents in a county who died of overdoses of opioids and the amount of opioids transported in a county that had a negative impact, Nazneen Ahmed, press secretary for the North Carolina Department of Justice, wrote in a email to Island Free Press.

Local governments and municipalities must follow the Memorandum of Agreement, which governs the use of opioid settlements and bankruptcy resolutions in North Carolina, and state law when passing resolutions to spend opioid settlement money, according to the MOA.

“Our office works with counties and local governments to ensure that the use of funds matches what is allowed under the MOA,” Ahmed wrote. “In situations where there may be questions, we do our best to work directly with the county to address potential issues before they arise.”

When local governments use opioid settlement money, they must report the resolution to the Community Opioid Resources Engine within 90 days and submit annual financial and impact reports to CORE-NC, according to the MOA.

All CORE-NC information is publicly available on the engine website.

Last month, the North Carolina DOJ updated its website with information about local payment programs, spending plans, past expenditures, annual impact reports and local contacts.

“North Carolina continues to set the standard for fighting the opioid epidemic with transparency and accountability,” Attorney General Josh Stein said.

Dare County residents should educate themselves about the county’s resources and carry Naloxone, which the county provides for free, in case they encounter someone overdosing, Ballinger said.

“A lot of people have some funny feelings about naloxone, but if someone’s dead, you can’t help them,” Ballinger said.

Dare County has partnered with libraries and businesses to distribute free naloxone and fentanyl test strips, Ballinger said.

Ballinger will participate in a town hall discussion about substance abuse and mental health at Liberty Christian Fellowship in Kill Devils Hills on Nov. 7 starting at 5:30 p.m.