CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Outreach groups called on Mecklenburg County and Charlotte city leaders for help when it came to staggering statistics around drug overdose deaths. The groups highlighted how fentanyl has impacted the Black community, and recent data showed that footprint.
"One being 31 years old, one being a mother of three and recently this last Saturday, one being 25 years old," Kenny Robinson with Freedom Fighting Missionaries said. "Those are the real faces of people who lost their lives to a fentanyl overdose in the last 60 days in Mecklenburg County."
Robinson, along side Greg Jackson with Heal Charlotte, called on both Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden and CMPD Chief Johnny Jennings to help curb this issue.
“So when my brothers called me to say lets ring the bell, lets ring the bell," McFadden said.
The call to action took place inside the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. It was a candid conversation that included discussions about the growing problems around the drug.
“If you don’t help us with this, prepare for a funeral, prepare for yourself for your children to die in the street,” McFadden said.
Robinson said there’s a large rise of overdose deaths within the Black community. He said this is on the heels of already losing 70 to 75 Black kids to gun violence. He added when you add upwards of 70 drug overdoses to that number, he considers it an epidemic.
"I’ll be going to funeral number three in the last 60 days,” Robinson said.
That is echoed by alarming statistics from North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Data showed from 2019 to 2021, Black people died at a higher rate than anyone else due to drug overdoses -- a 139% climb.
“That’s the state we are in, that’s where we got,” Jennings said.
The group said it’s in conversation with the Mecklenburg County Public Health and is in the process of providing preventative measures to every Mecklenburg County resident. The preventative measure in question is Narcan, a nasal spray which works to counteract fentanyl overdoses.
“It’s a shame, it’s a reality that we talk about every house needs to have Narcan in their cabinet, like Advil or Tylenol or anything else,” Jennings said.
“Last week my staff saved a life by giving them eight doses of them to come back,” McFadden said. “Eight doses of this.”
McFadden said the best prevention starts before Narcan.
“Talking to your kids, having those conversations, we are beyond 'Just don’t do it,'” McFadden said. “Maybe we need to reverse it, reverse that microphone and [say] why do you allow your son to continue to do drugs and steal and this is the path he is going down.”
Contact Austin Walker at awalker@wcnc.com and follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.