Josh Stein: Bringing about the end of the fentanyl crisis in our lifetime

I first met Debbie after she experienced one of the most terrible tragedies a parent can face. 

Her son, Hunter, was one of those larger-than-life people who made everyone he met feel special. He loved golf and travel and once beat Steph Curry in a free-throw competition at Davidson College’s McKillop Basketball Camp. When I met Debbie, she had so many stories to share about the lives Hunter had touched, as well as the person he might have continued to become if he’d had the chance. 

Hunter tragically passed away on December 4, 2016, as a result of an accidental fentanyl overdose. He was 23 years old, and if he had known about fentanyl, he might still be here today. 

There are too many stories like Hunter’s in North Carolina – young people whose lives ended too soon at the hands of one of the deadliest drugs our country has ever seen. And we have too many Debbies – parents, siblings, spouses, and children who will never get their loved one back. As Attorney General, I have dedicated myself to fighting the opioid and fentanyl crisis so that other families don’t have to experience this pain. 

When I took office in 2017, I got straight to work leading a bipartisan group of Attorneys General to hold big drug companies accountable for their role in creating and fueling the opioid crisis. I took on companies that promoted irresponsible use of opioids, and to date, we’ve won more than $50 billion, including nearly $1.5 billion coming to North Carolina to fund addiction prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction programs. 

As we work to solve this challenge in our communities, we have to start at the source, which is why I’m working to prevent fentanyl from crossing the border in the first place. I successfully lobbied Congress to give Border Control $300 million to install equipment that detects fentanyl in vehicles entering the United States. I convened a statewide Fentanyl Task Force of law enforcement leaders and experts to better cooperate to bring down drug trafficking rings, and my team has conducted more than 670 wiretaps to help law enforcement investigate and break up drug trafficking networks. 

As the fentanyl crisis intensified, I realized our state laws needed to be updated for the challenge we were facing. I worked with legislators across the aisle to pass the Stop Counterfeit Pill Act, which makes it a felony to possess equipment used to make counterfeit pills that contain fentanyl. We passed legislation to ban money laundering, which helps law enforcement go after drug traffickers, and we passed a law that gives law enforcement faster access to information they need to investigate the diversion of prescription drugs from legal to illegal uses.

We’re making progress, but the work is far from over. Every life lost to fentanyl is one too many. The fentanyl crisis doesn’t have one simple cause – nor does it have one silver bullet solution. That’s why I’m using every tool in my arsenal to tackle it. As Governor, I will keep working across the aisle to pursue common-sense solutions to the fentanyl crisis. I have called on the legislature to fund a Fentanyl Control Unit to help local district attorneys handle large-scale fentanyl trafficking, wiretap, and overdose cases. I will continue partnering with law enforcement to get fentanyl off our streets, and I will remain focused on strengthening border security to stop fentanyl from entering the country in the first place. 

Most of all, I will keep working with the fearless, tireless moms like Debbie who are turning their pain into purpose. I am inspired by their commitment to bringing about the end of the fentanyl crisis in our lifetime.