Town of Cary wants to screen poop to find opioid users

The Town of Cary wants to screen resident's poop in order to learn where people are using opioids.

Posted 7:37 p.m. Feb 22, 2018 — Updated 1:11 a.m. Jul 17, 2018

Janine Bowen

, WRAL.com

CARY, N.C. — The Town of Cary wants to screen resident’s poop in order to learn where people are using opioids.

State officials said North Carolina has seen an 800 percent increase in fatal overdoses from opioids over the past decade, but more data is needed to help solve the crisis.

Cary officials hope to generate geo-localized data about where opioids are most heavily used by measuring the concentration of the drugs in human waste to track users.

In his recent State of Cary address, Mayor Harold Weinbrecht said the town has seen an increase in overdoses and overdose-related deaths in the past year.

Cary received $100,000 to test the plan when it was selected as a Champion City in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge.

Of the 35 cities and towns competing in the challenge, the grand prize winner will receive $5 million to implement their idea and four other cities will be awarded $1 million.

According to a November poll conducted by Elon University, one in every three people in North Carolina said they have been affected by the opioid addiction crisis. Those figures were even higher among millennials, where 43 percent said they've been affected, and suburban residents, at 38 percent, the poll showed.

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