SURRY COUNTY, N.C. — Surry County continues to face an opioid crisis and an anti-overdose drug shortage.
- EMS officials say some distributors running low on Narcan
- County has created new position to address problem
- Law enforcement agencies trained to administer Narcan
The county ranked No. 2 in 2018 for the county with the most opioid overdoses per capita in the United States.
EMS officials said some distributors are running low on the anti-overdose drug, Narcan, and some agencies are running out of funding for this important drug.
Of the 235 overdose cases so far this year, Narcan was used 114 times.
"Anyone that has an opioid problem now can get access to Narcan. All of the law enforcement agencies in our county have been trained and they're administering Narcan, so if you look at the funding available for that resource it's starting to dwindle,” explained Director of Surry County EMS, John Shelton.
Emergency officials said the opioid drugs have gotten a lot more potent than in years past, so some drug users can develop a tolerance to this anti-overdose drug.
The county created a new position, "Opioid Response Director," to address the problem and help resolve this issue.