BY DEBBIE PAGE

As part of Overdose Awareness Week, the Drug-Alcohol Coalition of Iredell held a candlelight vigil on Thursday night at Christ Church in Statesville to remember those lost to drug overdose or poisoning.

According to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services 2024 estimates, the overdose death rate in Iredell County is 13.3 people per 100,000 residents, or 27 people.

This represents a 57 percent decrease over the same period last year, showing that local efforts by DACI and its partner agencies to prevent overdose and get people into treatment are yielding positive results.

Recovery Pastor Brian King led a service of remembrance, music, and hope with about 40 attendees. He noted that those who have experienced overdose or lost someone to it have a shadow over their lives.

“What we want to take away tonight, even while we are aching with agony, grief, and despair, is that there is light. Life is not free from pain, but in this pain comes growth, and God will find you where you are at.”

“God is close to the broken-hearted and rescues those that are crushed,” he added. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish the light. The light is for all mankind, including those who are struggling or grieving.”

The purpose of events like Thursday’s gathering, he said, is to say that “the darkness has not and will not win. It’s not a fragile light but a resilient light.”

King then lit a candle and passed the flame, continuing it on to the others in attendance.

He urged everyone to talk and share to find hope and healing from losses and hurt.

“Carry the light each and every day — to that person who is struggling and needs someone to listen, to help them find hope.”

After more music, the attendees filed out to the church’s patio area to observe the luminaries lit in memory of those lost to overdose, pausing and reflecting as a guitarist played and the sun set.

WHO’S AT RISK OF AN OVERDOSE?

Those who ingest prescription or illicit opioids are at risk of overdose and should have Narcan on hand. They include people:

♦ Mixing opioids with certain other medicines, illegal drugs, or with alcohol;
♦ Taking opioids after a period of not being on them (recent release from prison/jail, discharge from an opioid “detox” program);
♦ Taking an opioid called methadone;
♦ Taking high doses of opioids;
♦ Who have had previous opioid overdose; and
♦ Who have kidney, liver, or breathing problems

Signs of an overdose may include unresponsiveness, slow or shallow breathing, pinpoint (constricted) pupils, blue fingernails or lips, vomiting, or gurgling noises.

PREVENTING OVERDOSE

Harm reduction involves using strategies that meet people with substance use disorder (SUD) where they are in their behaviors to promote safer options and reduce the risks of overdose.

For opioid overdose prevention, community-based naloxone distribution and training, clean syringe services to present disease spread, and distributing fentanyl test strips to check drugs for the presence of the deadly substance to reduce the risks associated with illicit drug use.

Providing these harm reduction services also allows peer support and addiction specialists to work with participants to address their drug use and provide treatment information and options.

Studies show that people engaged in syringe services programs are five times more likely to enter treatment than nonparticipants.

SAVING LIVES WITH NALOXONE

Naloxone, a safe and non-addictive medicine which blocks the effects of an opioid and restores breathing, is available to everyone under the statewide standing order, without a prescription, at the majority of N.C. retail pharmacies and is covered under most insurance policies.

North Carolina was the third state to adopt a statewide standing order for naloxone, which is also available at low or no-cost at county health departments.

DACI can provide free naloxone to those with need it (https://www.daciredell.com/resources).

In 2018, United States Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, issued a public health advisory emphasizing the importance of naloxone in savings lives.

In this advisory, he recommended the following groups of people carry naloxone and know how to use it:

♦ Individuals taking high doses of opioids as prescribed for the management of chronic pain;
♦ Individuals taking prescription opioids concurrently with alcohol or sedating medications;
♦ Individuals misusing prescription opioids or using illicit opioids such as heroin;
♦ Individuals with a history of opioid use disorder;
♦ Individuals completing opioid detoxification;
♦ Individuals recently discharged from emergency medical care following an opioid overdose;
♦ Individuals recently released from incarceration with a history of opioid use disorder;
♦ Family and friends of people who have opioid use disorder; and
♦ Community members who come into contact with people at risk for opioid overdose

If the person has ingested fentanyl, the drug may be so potent that multiple doses of naloxone are required.

RECENT OVERDOSE STATISTICS

The estimated overdose Emergency Department visit rate so far in 2025, according to the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, is 101 per 100,000 residents, representing a projected 11,151 hospital visits to treat an overdose.

These incidents of overdose are sobering and most likely underreported since some resuscitated by Narcan refuse further medical treatment.

From 2000-2023, more than 41,500 North Carolinians lost their lives to a drug overdose. Each day in 2023, 12 North Carolinians died from a drug overdose.

Recent year overdose death data is not yet final, but an estimated 3,025 North Carolinians (8 per day) are suspected to have died from an overdose in 2024.

In the latest monthly data available, the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reported 259 suspected overdoses in the state in June of 2025, down from 275 during the same period of last year. Suspected drug overdoses are down 8 percent for the first 6 months of 2025 compared to 2024.

ABOUT DACI

Drug-Alcohol Coalition of Iredell (www.daciredell.com), is made up of dozens of representatives from various nonprofit agencies, area law enforcement entities, medical professionals, and city and county governments.

Founded in 2012, the coalition seeks to educate, engage, and empower Iredell County citizens. The group is committed to the reduction and prevention of substance misuse, abuse, and overdose deaths.

Their focus is to build community awareness of substance use disorders, to educate parents, teens, and children about the dangers of misuse, and to prevent problems before they start.

The DACI website provides information on the organization’s governance, work groups, events, and ways to get involved with the coalition. The group’s Facebook page is at https://www.facebook.com/Drug-Alcohol-Coalition-of-Iredell-557415357723605.

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