buprenorphine

shows an inmate in a orange jail jumpsuit and handcuffs behind a bottle labeled methadone, an opioid use disorder drug that can help reduce cravings.

For some opioid users in NC, jail doesn’t mean detox

February 25, 2020 by Taylor Knopf

For some opioid users in NC, jail doesn’t mean detox - North Carolina Health News

To prevent overdose deaths, some counties are allowing inmates to continue medication-assisted treatment.

Taylor Knopf For most people using substances, time in jail means forced detox. This is also true for those trying to improve their lives with opioid addiction programs, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT). More and more North Carolinians are entering these MAT programs, where they receive daily doses of drugs, such as methadone or buprenorphine […]

Shows a woman hugging a little boy she's had in foster care. She is signing his adoption papers.

Foster care case numbers continue to climb in NC, as opioid crisis affects families

September 24, 2019 by Sarah Ovaska

Foster care case numbers continue to climb in NC, as opioid crisis affects families - North Carolina Health News

Record numbers of children, almost all of whom have trauma of their own, are entering the foster care system as a result of abuse and neglect.

By Sarah Ovaska-Few North Carolina could use more people like Lisa Link, as the state grapples with record numbers of children entering and staying in the already stretched foster care system. Link, an auto broker and owner of a small used-car lot in Charlotte, opted five years ago to become a foster parent after years […]

Two glass vials that say "Naloxone HCL" and two wrapped syringes rest on a metal shelf at a needle exchange facility. In the background is a paper instructions on using the medication to reverse an opioid overdose

N.C. efforts to reduce opioid dependency highlighted in national report

September 13, 2019 by Yen Duong

N.C. efforts to reduce opioid dependency highlighted in national report - North Carolina Health News

The American Medical Association published a national analysis of state policies fighting the opioid epidemic. It highlighted North Carolina’s Project OBOT and work by the N.C. Division of Public Health, and also called for Medicaid expansion.

By Yen Duong In a national report subtitled “Leading-edge Practices and Next Steps,” the American Medical Association and consulting firm Manatt Health highlighted a North Carolina Medical Society initiative to support providers treating opioid use disorder. Project OBOT, short for office-based opioid treatment, helps North Carolina providers get trained to prescribe medication-assisted treatment (MAT) to […]

shows a room full of people meeting from many churches listening to a speaker

Houses of God, and harm reduction

July 25, 2019 by Emily Davis

Houses of God, and harm reduction - North Carolina Health News

With a multitude of locations, North Carolina's churches have the potential to be potent weapons in the fight against opioid overdoses and deaths. If only church leaders take the opportunity.

By Emily Davis On a recent Monday morning, a clean syringe and a bottle of naloxone got passed around the room at Grace United Methodist Church. Alongside a buffet of bagels and coffee, the Greensboro parish’s tables were scattered with leaflets of scripture recommendations, example prayers and supply lists, all on the theme of harm […]

A county by county map of US colored to show opioid death risk, including access to medication-assisted treatment

Forty-one N.C. counties classified as “high risk” in new opioid study

July 23, 2019 by Yen Duong

Forty-one N.C. counties classified as “high risk” in new opioid study - North Carolina Health News

In a national study, researchers classified 41 North Carolina counties as “opioid high-risk” with few providers of medication-assisted treatment and many opioid-related deaths.

By Yen Duong While conversations about the national opioid epidemic often focus on hardest-hit states such as Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky, few people have analyzed county-by-county trends, where those state’s policies can make a difference. But a new study, published last month in an open-access version of the Journal of the American Medical Association, […]

Sublingual Suboxone(Buprenorphine/Naloxone) Tablets

N.C. uses new federal money to get people into drug treatment, but most of them are white

July 8, 2019 by Taylor Knopf

N.C. uses new federal money to get people into drug treatment, but most of them are white - North Carolina Health News

Millions in grant money have come to the state in the past two years to reduce the number of people using opioids, but state data show racial disparities in who’s benefiting.

By Taylor Knopf State officials announced last month that more than 12,000 people with substance use disorder entered addiction treatment since North Carolina received $54 million in federal grant funding to address the opioid crisis. Opioid addiction is widespread in North Carolina, and an average of five people die per day from overdose. It affects […]

shows two men talking inside a mobile home equipped as a clinic, one man is showing the other some papers

Federal Ban on Methadone Vans Seen as Barrier to Treatment

April 4, 2018 by Pew Trusts

Federal Ban on Methadone Vans Seen as Barrier to Treatment - North Carolina Health News

Even as an epidemic of opioid use and overdose plagues hard-to-reach places, federal regulations are placing a block on the ability to take one of the most effective treatment - methadone - to places where people need it.

From California to Vermont, mobile methadone vans have served people with opioid addiction in rural towns and underserved inner-city neighborhoods for nearly three decades. But the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which regulates dispensing of the FDA-approved addiction medicine, has refused to license any new methadone vans since 2007 over concerns about potential diversion of the […]

shows the wrapper / packaging for suboxone

Docs Look to Make Prescribing Opioid Treatment Rx Easier

September 6, 2017 by Taylor Knopf

Docs Look to Make Prescribing Opioid Treatment Rx Easier - North Carolina Health News

Even as the number of people overdosing on opioids is rising, the number of physicians able to prescribe the best treatment is limited.

By Taylor Knopf Despite the escalating problem of opioid abuse and overdoses across North Carolina, there is only one “preferred” addiction treatment under the state Medicaid program. If a provider would like to treat a Medicaid patient with a treatment other than Suboxone® SL Film, they must go through extra steps that could take as […]

shows a box containing naloxone pre-filled syringe

Spending on Opioid Addiction Medications Rose Sharply Since 2011

July 6, 2017 by Side Effects Public Media

Spending on Opioid Addiction Medications Rose Sharply Since 2011 - North Carolina Health News

As the number of people using opioids climbed in the past decade, spending on treatment for those people climbed to close to $1 billion.

By Sarah Fentem Side Effects Public Media Medicaid spending on three important medications used to treat opioid addiction increased 136 percent nationwide between 2011 and 2016, according to a new report from the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank based in Washington D.C. The increases were much higher in some states—in seven states, rates […]

NC Addiction Professionals Sign onto Letter Calling Out Remarks From Tom Price As Unscientific, Damaging

May 17, 2017 by Side Effects Public Media

NC Addiction Professionals Sign onto Letter Calling Out Remarks From Tom Price As Unscientific, Damaging - North Carolina Health News

In a visit to West Virginia, Price promoted faith-based programs while signaling less support for medication-assisted programs in which addicts are weaned off heroin using other opioids such as buprenorphine and methadone.

Addiction experts are up in arms following remarks from Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, in which he referred to medication-assisted treatment for addiction as “substituting one opioid for another.” Nearly 700 researchers and practitioners – including 17 North Carolinians (see below) – sent a letter Monday communicating their criticisms to Price and urging […]

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