Addressing North Carolina’s Opioid Use Among Youth and Young Adults

In 2016, four percent of 12 million youth aged 12-17 in the United States reported misusing opioids, specifically prescription drugs over the past year (Youth.gov, n.d.). The use of these drugs often leads to addiction and overdose, which has increased steadily across the last years.

According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, 2022), the overdose death among youth aged 14-18 increased 94% from 2019 to 2020 and 20% from 2020 to 2021. North Carolina is ranked as one of the highest drug overdose mortality states in the country with a death rate of 41.8 per 100,000 (CDC, 2022). Therefore, the use and misuse of opioids reveal that this is not only a national public health crisis, but also a statewide problem in North Carolina.

In response to the misuse of opioids in North Carolina, The North Carolina Collaboratory recently launched research awards to help enhance the effectiveness of national opioid settlement funds being distributed across North Carolina by supporting local government decision-making and the implementation of related programs and policies. Authorized by the General Assembly in 2016, the Collaboratory is a research funding agency focused on serving the state of North Carolina.

So far, 10 research teams have received grants for research and evaluation projects that will involve partnerships with local governments or their sub-recipients that are implementing opioid remediation activities as authorized by the North Carolina Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which governs the use of national opioid settlement funds. One of these research teams is led by Karlesia Montague of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) and involves a subaward to CFACE Director, Dr. Lorraine Taylor.

Addressing Opioid Use among Youth and Young Adults in Wake County

This collaboration between NCCU researchers and CFACE will focus on understanding the needs, access and availability of opioid treatment services in Wake County. Through focus groups with youth and their families, this project aims to identify the needs, challenges and barriers faced by youth and their families when accessing community treatment options for opioid use/misuse. Findings from this research will engage community members, stakeholders and treatment providers to create an initiative for early intervention and treatment accessibility.

This research study will further aim to assist parents, family members, caregivers, teachers, school staff, peers, neighbors, health or human services professionals, or others in contact with children or adolescents. This research will allow the county to make meaningful investments that can fill gaps and build an infrastructure that will support the health and well-being of future generations.