The latest WRAL Doc, Crisis Next Door, shows how fentanyl has destroyed the lives of thousands of North Carolinians, what the state is doing to fight this epidemic and what more is needed to save lives.

North Carolina is in the grip of a drug overdose epidemic, with fentanyl being the primary culprit. The new WRAL Documentary, Crisis Next Door, focuses on fentanyl’s impact.

More than 4,000 people in North Carolina died from drug overdoses in 2021, the most substance abuse related deaths ever recorded in the state. According to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS), 77% of those deaths involved fentanyl.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. When manufactured by pharmaceutical companies and approved by the FDA, it can be safely used to treat patients in severe pain. The synthetic fentanyl leading to many overdose deaths is made in unregulated labs, pushed by drug cartels, and put in various drugs as a cheap way to produce extremely strong substances.

“It's in every substance out there. It's in marijuana, it's in methamphetamine, it's in cocaine,” said Dr. Carrie Brown with the NCDHHS.

Fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin. This means a very small amount, as little as 2 milligrams, could be a potentially lethal dose.

“We are in the deadliest moment of the deadliest drug epidemic in American history,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein.

Confusion surrounding what fentanyl is and how it is killing people has led to a lack of empathy surrounding this crisis.

“You'd be hard pressed to find a family in the United States that hasn't, at some level, been impacted when you're talking about the numbers that we're talking about,” said Dr. Brown.

The latest WRAL Doc, The Crisis Next Door, shows how fentanyl has destroyed the lives of thousands of North Carolinians, what the state is doing to fight this epidemic and what more is needed to save lives.

Documentary Investigative Reporter: Cristin Severance
Documentary Videographer/Editor: Jay Jennings
Additional Videography and Graphics: Justin Arner
Graphics: Shan Zhong

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