Opioid Crisis

WakeMed Health and Hospitals will provide hospital-level mental health and substance use disorder treatments at WakeBrook, the mental health hospital in Raleigh.

As the fight against the opioid epidemic continues, new medicines promise to help. But experts say old remedies shouldn't be forgotten.

Counties are starting to get their first payments from the more than $50 billion dollar windfall secured from drug manufacturers and pharmacies for their role in the opioid epidemic. A public radio collaborative investigated what programs are being funded.

Mental health advocates are concerned that care for a fragile population will decline if Wake County and UNC Health can't reach a contract extension agreement to operate UNC WakeBrook, the mental health hospital in east Raleigh.

Only the person who has overdosed and the person who calls for help are shielded from most prosecutions for substance possession. Sometimes even those people find themselves in legal jeopardy. A new bill would provide protection for everyone at a scene from arrest and from prosecution for nonviolent offenses.

The decision could make the life-saving drug more accessible. Emergent BioSolutions, the drug company that produces Narcan, said it anticipates it will be on store shelves by late summer.

North Carolina saw record highs in opioid overdose hospitalizations and deaths in 2022.

CVS and Walgreens did not admit to any wrongdoing as part of the settlement.

The deal would still need to be approved by 43 states to take effect. It follows a similar announcement from pharmacy chains CVS Health and Walgreen Co. They each said they would pay about $5 billion over time to settle suits they face.

Framing MAT in jails as an Americans with Disabilities Act issue is prompting a shift in how the treatment is managed with jails now more willing to sort out the logistics.