GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — Gaston County officials are holding public meetings to discuss how they will use funding received from an opioid settlement and how the money should be used to help combat the ongoing opioid crisis.
According to Gaston Emergency Medical Services, there have been over 3,100 opioid overdoses from 2021 until 2024. From 2021 to 2023, 326 of them were fatal.
County officials say they hope to use the state funding to not only save lives, but work toward prevention and intervention. Gaston County will receive $40 million in opioid settlement funds over 18 years.
The settlement started in 2022, and with more than $11 million received as of this fiscal year, more than $4 million has gone toward various resources, programs and treatment plans. While ending the opioid crisis is a tall task, Gregory Grier, the director of Gaston County Community Support Services, says the hope is to save as many lives as possible.
"By putting naloxone in the community, by having our community paramedic program which can assist with bringing folks back to life, with having our recovery transportation so that if people want to actively participate in treatment, they have do not have a barrier," Grier said.
Going forward, settlement funds can go toward more prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery efforts, but what those will look like has yet to be decided.
This is the first year Gaston County officials have held three separate meetings to get more feedback across the county.
The next and final public meeting is in Cherryville on Thursday, Aug. 29 at the Cherryville Community Building from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The Cherryville Community Building is located at 108 South Jacob Street.
Contact Destiny Richards at drichards5@wcnc.com and follow her on Facebook, X and Instagram.