Fentanyl leading cause of death for 18-45-year-olds in U.S., impact felt in ENC

by Kate Hussey and Jordan Honeycutt

Fri, March 25th 2022 at 7:43 PM

Updated Wed, March 30th 2022 at 5:02 PM

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Diana Phillips holds a family photo that shows her daughter Brittany smiling. Phillps lost her daughter to a fentanyl overdose in 2020. (Photo: Kate Hussey, News Channel 12)

NEW BERN, Craven County — Fentanyl is now the leading cause of death for people 18-45 years old in the United States, according to the latest data from the CDC.

In 2019, officials from the CDC said 70,630 drug overdose deaths occurred in the United States, and in 2020, there were 78,056 deaths. Yet, by 2021, there were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during the 12-month period ending in April of 2021, an increase of 28.5 percent from the same period the year before.

That means the synthetic drug killed nearly twice as many people as COVID-19, car accidents, cancer, and suicide.

According to data from NCDHHS, it’s a leading problem in North Carolina too.

According to NCDHHS, the number of fatal overdoses in the state spiked by 40 percent from 2019 to 2020, going up again by 18 percent from 2020 to 2021, accounting for nearly 4,000 deaths in this past year alone.

Across the state, fentanyl contributed to 77 percent of the fatal drug overdoses from January of 2021 to August 2021. In comparison, only 33 percent of overdoses were attributed to the synthetic drug just five years earlier in 2016.

“In all my years of following drug issues in the county, yeah, we’ve had heroin issues, but nothing like this,” said Major David McFadyen with the Craven County Sheriff’s Office.

McFadyen said the problem, in part, is that fentanyl is a cheaper cut of opioid so many drug dealers lace drugs like heroin with it to make more of a profit.

Yet fentanyl is far stronger than other drugs too. Both McFadyen and data from the DEA shows just two milligrams of fentanyl can kill you and often times, since fentanyl isn’t cut in a lab, McFadyen said anyone who buys drugs laced with it doesn’t know how much they’re actually consuming.

“Our overdose deaths, all seven we’ve seen this year have been as a result of fentanyl-laced heroin, as have most of the ones we’ve seen in recent years past,” said McFadyen. He added that number doesn’t include the overdoses that occurred within municipality limits.

McFadyen also said it’s a problem the Craven County Sheriff’s Office has been cracking down on already, yet said with the problem growing so exponentially, he believes it may be time for even more action.

“More people die every year from fentanyl in 18-45-year-olds than gun shots, stabbings, car wrecks or disease. Maybe society isn’t taking this as serious as they need to. Maybe it’s time we take this more seriously and make sure there are community resources available,” said McFadyen.

His message is one Newport resident, Diana Phillips, echoed. Phillips said she'll never forget the day of May 26, 2020, the day she got a call telling her her 28-year-old daughter, Brittany, died of an overdose on Harkers Island.

“I lost it. I couldn’t do anything but cry. I didn’t know why?, how?, who was with her?, so many unanswered questions,” said Phillips.

Phillips said her daughter was a vibrant woman who loved the ocean and boating. She was involved in band and lots of extracurriculars in high school, but fell into drug addiction at the age of 15. She had been 90 days clean when she overdosed in 2020.

“She was full of life. She always came in here with a smile, ‘Hey mama, how ya doin?,” said Phillips. “She was my first born.”

Brittany leaves behind her mother, Diana, her father, her stepfather, Brad, her sister Kayla, and her 3-year-old son, Rayland, who Diana and her husband are in the process of adopting. Phillips said while the pain of losing her daughter has subsided over time, it’s a pain she deals with every day.

“It’s a heartbreak that I don’t wish on any parent,” said Phillips.

Phillips said she hopes that by sharing her daughter’s story, she can prevent some other family from going through the same pain she’s dealing with now.

"Just, when you feel like there is no hope, please believe that there is. There is hope,” said Phillips.

She also urged any addicts to seek help, and parents of addicts to contact someone for help on how to deal with supporting a child without enabling the habit.

Currently, the Craven County Sheriff’s Office does partner with the Hope Recovery Clinic in Carteret County to help people who are struggling with addiction get help and McFadyen said Craven County Commissioners have recently approved an expansion of that partnership.

Hope Recovery Homes is a 24-hour nonprofit facility established for the purposes of shelter care and recovery from alcohol or other drug addiction through a 12-step, self-help, peer role modeling, and self-governance approach.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, these resources can help:

Hope Recovery Clinic: (252) 515-6976

New Pathways Recovery Center in James City: (252) 429-1838

GRC Greenville Recovery Center: (252) 353-2555

Jacksonville Treatment Center (910) 347-2205

Hope is Alive (Women's House in Swansboro, Men's house in Otway)

Loaves and fishes (Beaufort) 252-838-9035

Port Health (Morehead) 252-222-3144

Morehead City Treatment Center (252) 773-0306

RHA Health Service (Multiple locations in ENC) 252-648-3124

Carteret County Rape Crisis Counseling (Morehead) 252-504-3668, 24 Hour Crisis Phone: 252-725-4040

From the Pit to the Palace: 252-342-8490