At the 2021 Opioid Misuse and Overdose Prevention Summit on May 4-6, 2021, North Carolina leaders, including Governor Roy Cooper and Health and Human Services Secretary Mandy K. Cohen, M.D., highlighted the states progress in addressing the opioid epidemic, the impact of COVID-19 on the opioid epidemic and launched the updated Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan.
Since the plan was launched in 2017, the number of individuals receiving dispensed opioids has decreased by 36% and the number of Uninsured and Medicaid beneficiaries who have received opioid use disorder treatment has increased by 48%.
- Since January 2019, we have distributed nearly 250,000 doses of naloxone
- As of 2021, there are now 40 registered Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) operating in North Carolina serving 57 counties and one federally recognized tribe.
- Trained over 300 community and local government partners to create or expand syringe service programs and advance harm reduction strategies
- Over 21,000 people without insurance received treatment with federal funding
- Launched a medical residency training project that has provided waiver training to nearly 1200 prescribers, and worked with over 29 residency and advance practice program programs to incorporate waiver training as an ongoing part of their curriculum.
- Trained over 4,000 providers on clinical issues related to the opioid epidemic, include safe prescribing of opioids and pain treatment
- Launched multiple public education campaigns
- Expanded and revamped the OAP Data Dashboard to add local actions in monitoring OAP progress
The North Carolina Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan follows the 2019 updates to the action plan. The plan includes strategies to center equity and lived experiences in the overdose epidemic response, broadens the strategies beyond opioids to include all overdoses and sets priorities around pandemic recovery and non-medical drivers of health. Key partners and stakeholders provided feedback to inform the updates made in the action plan.
Secretary Cohen addressed participants in an opening keynote speech, starting off with acknowledging the difficult year we have all had facing the COVID-19 pandemic, especially those dealing with substance use disorders, and noting the increase in addiction and overdoses in the state after seeing more trends of progress before the pandemic.
Secretary Cohen also talked about recommitting to the Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan and how steps going forward will address not only opioids, but multiple substances, as nearly two-thirds of overdoses now involve multiple substances.
She said that prevention, equity and lived experiences are key to addressing the opioid epidemic:
“The substance use epidemic is part of intergenerational cycles of trauma and harm, and if we’re really going to get to prevention, we have to get upstream, we have to get to the root of problems of addiction rather than focusing on any particular substance,” Secretary Cohen said. “We are certainly re-centering our prevention work to address trauma, things including adverse childhood experiences and focusing on children and families.”
More than 800 national, state and local community leaders came together this year to discuss the integral role North Carolina’s communities play in prevention and response efforts across the state. The three-day Opioid Misuse & Overdose Prevention Virtual Summit included more than 30 sessions that were an opportunity for participants to reflect on the progress made and a chance to share best practices to turn the tide of this epidemic.
This year’s theme for the Summit was More than Opioids: bolstering equity, centering lived experience, and addressing polysubstance use.
Plenaries addressed the conference themes and were focused on:
- The impact of COVID-19 on the opioid epidemic, and the increase in overdoses seen during COVID-19
- Discussions on polysubstance use and its implications for policy and practice
- Building a more equitable response to the overdose crisis in North Carolina
Conference attendees also had the opportunity to join an affiliated event sponsored by the Duke Opioid Collaboratory and the Monti on Centering Lived Experience. This storytelling event was an opportunity to hear from five people who have been affected by substance use and overdose and was focused on resilience. This event raised $1,000 for syringe services programs in the state.