12 people a day died from drug overdoses in North Carolina, 2022 data says
More than 4,300 North Carolinians died from overdoses in 2022.
That trend continues going up, devastating entire communities. To understand the gravity of how many lives are lost, you can look at the problem by population.
Imagine that if within a year, everyone living in the town of Mount Olive just disappeared. Or if over 20 years, it happened with a town the size of Fuquay-Varina.
That’s what's happening across the state. We've seen 4,300 lives lost in a year or 37,000 over about 20 years due to the opioid crisis.
"It’s heartbreaking," said Freida MacDonald. "I never get used to it."
MacDonald’s world has been turned upside down. First, her son Stephen died from gun violence.
"I think the loss of his brother impacted him very deeply because of that sensitivity," MacDonald said.
Four years later, Michael lost his life due to an overdose.
"There’s no question in my mind they’d want me to do what I am doing," she said.
So what is MacDonald doing?
She’s putting up billboards, showing the faces of loved ones lost from the opioid crisis in North Carolina. There are 300 faces already, but there could be thousands more. In 2022 alone, 12 North Carolinians died every day from overdoses.
"That number has risen so much that i can’t even wrap my head around it," she said.
More than 4,300 people total that year, according to that DHHS data just released, which is up 121% since MacDonald’s son Michael’s death in 2016.
"It’s getting to the point where if it hasn’t touched you directly it may have touched your friend's son down the road," she said. "I see that more and more. I rarely have a conversation with someone who doesn’t know someone."
With more than a billion dollars coming to the state from the opioid settlements, MacDonald has hope that the crisis can be turned around and no more families will grieve the way she has. MacDonald is the founder of Know Hope NC to help those who are suffering with grief and addiction.
"When we’re helping one, we’re really not helping one," she said. "We’re helping everybody that loves that one person and that can be a lot of people."
Freida is currently working on a fourth billboard. She has 77 faces for that so far. She said she looks forward to the day when there aren’t any more people dying from the crisis so she doesn't have any new faces to add.
“My son always said you want to turn no hope into know,” she said.
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has a Opioid and Substance Use Action Plan Data Dashboard. Support is also available through Recovery Support Services.
