BURKE COUNTY, N.C. — Officials said drug overdoses have surpassed car crashes as the leading cause of accidental death in Burke County.
Channel 9's partners at the Morganton News Herald report that North Carolina is ranked fourth in the nation for its drug-related fatalities.
The opioid-reversal drug naloxone, brand name Narcan, is helping to cut down on those numbers.
North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition employees have distributed more than 26,000 kits throughout the state since August 2013.
In the last year, Burke County emergency responders said the drug has reversed 144 overdoses. Since May 23 of this year, 3,000 overdoses have been reversed in the state.
Naloxone was made available to the public without a prescription in June when Gov. McCrory signed Senate Bill 734 at the Guilford County Sheriff's Office.
Read the original article on the Morganton News Herald.
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