According to the 2021 Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) since 2016 Beaufort County has continued to a greater rate of overdose deaths, per 100,000 people, than North Carolina. In 2019 Beaufort County’s percent of overdose deaths by illicit opioids (77.8%) was greater than North Carolina’s (68%). As the opioid epidemic continues to worsen across North Carolina, Beaufort County’s percent of deaths caused by illicit opioids was nine times greater in 2019 than 2016.

Beaufort County Detention Center

The Beaufort County Health Department houses the Prevention Point Program- a harm reduction and injury prevention program that provides unused substance use supplies, educational resources, and treatment referrals. The foundations of harm reduction programs include safer substance use practices, abstinence, utilizing an empathetic communicative approach, and addressing the comorbidities that fuel the cycle of substance use disorders.