The Opioid Awareness Campaign was identified by Jackson County local government, Healthy Carolinians of Jackson County and the School Health Advisory Council as a program that, when combined with other actions in our community, has a reasonable chance of making a difference in opioid misuse and overdoses in Jackson County. The Opioid Awareness Campaign is a community effort raising awareness on this nationwide epidemic.  A large focus of the Campaign is making sure medications are disposed of properly to keep them out of hands of children and anyone who may misuse them, the availibility and importance of narcan, and the reduction of stigma.  Substance abuse prevention has been a focus in our community since 2011, however this specific September as Opioid Awareness Month in Jackson County began in 2019. 

The audience for this campaign is the community at large.  This strategy aims to make a difference at the individual level- increasing knowledge and influence on individual attitudes and beliefs towards health decisions and substance abuse disorder. Implementation will take place community-wide in Jackson County.  

The partners for this Opioid Awareness Campaign include:

In December of 2022, Jackson County Department of Public Health received the Prevent Drug Overdose grant thru Community Impact North Carolina. With this grant money Naloxone education and kits as well as medication lockboxes were made available thru out the county at no cost to participants and over 390 Naloxone kits provided in 2023. The Lock Your Meds NC campaign message was shared thru social media posts, billboards and news paper articles. Thru partnership with Safe Kids Jackson County and the Jackson County Department on Aging, 23 pounds of expired or unused medications were take back at 2 medication take back events.