The settlement comes as North Carolina is seeing potentially record opioid deaths.
A total of 3,961 people died of suspected overdoses in 2021, a 26% increase from 2020, when 3,132 suspected overdose deaths were recorded, according to data from the N.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
“It is a tragedy beyond words that last year we lost more than 100,000 family members, friends, and neighbors to preventable overdose deaths in America,” said Elizabeth Brewington, associate director of overdose response at the N.C. Council of Churches, in a statement. “Across North Carolina, we saw our highest numbers yet, with every overdose representing the loss of a beloved child of God.”
