Commissioners approve grant funding request for prescription drug initiative

BEAUFORT, N.C. - Carteret County commissioners have approved a request to seek grant funding for a prescription drug initiative presented Monday night.

The Board of Commissioners voted to allow Sheriff Asa Buck to submit a grant application to the Governors Crime Commission.

The salary for a detective who would be assigned to investigate prescription drug diversion, fraud and related criminal activity would be funded by the grant. The detective would work in conjunction with mental health and medical community to change mind sets and provide education as to the dangers of prescription drugs and also work to reduce instances of over prescribing.

The efforts will target reducing the number of deaths directly attributable to prescription drug overdose.

The Sheriff thanked the Board of Commissioners, noting, "Our County Commissioners have been very supportive of the Sheriff’s Office and our efforts and I appreciate their continued support”.      

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BEAUFORT, N.C. - Carteret County tops the state's list with one of the highest death rates due to poisoning from prescription drugs. 

Since the year 2000, more than 100 people have been killed due to overdosing.

Monday night, commissioners will hear from the county's sheriff about adding a position dedicated solely to this problem.

In Carteret County, there are four officers dedicated to narcotics and more than 50 percent of their workload is prescription drugs.  But the sheriff's office says they can't fight the problem alone. That's why they're hoping to secure an additional position to help with not just law enforcement, but also education.

"This is a really a very serious public health concern,” said Carteret County Sheriff Asa Buck. So serious in fact, that he ran for office on the platform of fighting the prescription drug problem in Carteret County.

He's the first to admit it hasn't been easy.

In 2010, there were several reports of people breaking into pharmacies to steal drugs or trafficking them through town. In recent years, the amount of prescriptions issued in the county has become one of the highest in the state and then there is the issue with perception.

He says because you can get buy them in the store, some people believe prescription drugs are safer than illegal ones. 

In Carteret County schools, 16 percent of students admitted to using prescription pain killers for non-medical use.

The sheriff says that's more than two times the state average which is around seven percent.

In 2008, the department launched the Pills Can Kill campaign to encourage residents to clean out their medicine cabinets to deter youth from dipping into prescription drugs. It's been very successful and several other counties across the state have joined in as well. 

"We can go out and arrest people, but that's not going to change mindsets. And that's not going to change the way doctors operate in their prescribing practices. We as law enforcement officials have to work together with the medical community and the mental health community and bring this together as a whole source,” said Buck.

And reaching out to those various groups is one way the sheriff's office plans to do this if they get the go ahead from the county commissioners for the new position. 

As far as paying for the position, it's 75 percent grant-funded and the county would have to come up with the rest of the funds.