As in other states, North Carolina has experienced a sharp increase in the number of drug overdose deaths over the last decade, largely due to the opioid epidemic. Substance Use Disorder has devastating impacts on the life of the people who experience it, their families, and their communities.

Substance use disorders (SUDs) are chronic or recurrent conditions that, like other chronic illnesses, require ongoing care and treatment for individuals to regain health and maintain recovery. As with any chronic disease, prevention, identification, treatment, and recovery services and supports are essential to ensuring positive health outcomes. Effective treatments for SUDs and underlying mental and physical health problems exist; however, access to services and supports for SUDs varies greatly across the state.

Having a SUD affects an individual’s relationships with family and friends, ability to attend school or work, their overall physical and mental health, and may lead to problems with the legal system. In addition to increases in drug overdoses, the opioid epidemic has had devastating consequences including the spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C and increased rates of child maltreatment and entry into foster care as more and more parents and other relatives develop and struggle with SUDs.

Tobacco use remains the leading preventable cause of early death and disease in North Carolina and the nation. Tobacco use and secondhand smoke exposure are responsible for multiple causes of preventable morbidity and mortality in North Carolina. While combustible cigarette use has decreased among North Carolina’s youth, prevalence among adults has declined only slightly, and there are major disparities of tobacco-attributable disease and death among population groups. E-cigarette use among young people has become epidemic in North Carolina and the nation and poses a public health threat.  

Also, excessive drinking, a major cause of morbidity and mortality across the United States, has significant impacts on individuals, families, communities, and state and local economies. Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable deaths in North Carolina.