As fiscal year 2024-2025 begins, North Carolina’s county governments are receiving their third installment of the Opioid Settlement Fund. This year, Swain County received $236,111. 

Most people don’t realize that some accidental opioid overdoses are reversible with the quick administration of an opioid antagonist called naloxone, commonly found as a nasal spray and sold under the brand name of Narcan. 

To the Editor:

With interest, I read the article “Combating the Opioid Crisis” with interest in the February 22 issue of The Sylva Herald. In the article it was stated that an opioid settlement supplemental agreement awarded Jackson County $3 million to combat opioid use on the local level. 

Jackson County Commissioners are set to approve two grant-funded positions aimed at substance use disorder recovery and treatment during a regular meeting this week with little controversy.

Jackson County has received a grant from Dogwood Health Trust to create a substance abuse recovery planning program over a two-year period. 

The immediate grief of having to bury a child seems insurmountable, and the lifetime of what-ifs seem like enough to drag a person to unimaginable depths.

But what for most is horrific speculation is a reality for others. John Chapman Sr. knows.

No matter how it all shakes out in the end, Nov. 3, 2022 will be looked upon as a historic day in Western North Carolina as regional leaders took the first few tenuous steps towards creating an enduring partnership to combat the opioid epidemic.

A General Assembly-backed initiative to prevent opioid overdoses, provide linkages to care and stem the spread of communicable diseases through the use of syringe service programs (SSPs) is being undercut by local law enforcement officers, according to a recent report published by the Harm Reduction Journal.

As a stark reminder of the toll that substance abuse has taken on families across the country and across Western North Carolina, a small group of Macon County residents will travel to Washington, D.C., later this month to help erect a temporary cemetery made up of hundreds upon hundreds of hand-painted tombstones.

When a small group of concerned citizens turned up to the most recent Haywood County Board of Commissioners meeting, it sounded as though they were intent on ambushing commissioners with misinformation about everything from COVID-19 to county HHS board operations to needle exchange programs.