‘No Cap’ message centers on Charlotte teens using fentanyl and pain pills, CMPD says

Young adults and teens are the target of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police’s new campaign to slow overdose deaths and curb fentanyl drug trafficking locally.

Already this year, police said, 179 people have died in Charlotte from drug overdoses. The majority were under age 40.

One mother, speaking at a CMPD news conference on Thursday, described losing her 18-year-old son to an overdose after he took illegal pain pills containing fentanyl. Jamahrian “Jae” Roseboro died Aug. 10 in Charlotte.

The mom, Sheleatha McCollie, said the police department’s new effort — titled “No cap, those pills are sus” — is relevant because of the prevalence of teens and young adults who take pills and are becoming addicted. The campaign uses slang terms.“No cap” means “no lie.” The phrase “sus” — as in “those pills are sus” — is slang or short-hand for “suspicious.”

It will, McCollie said, “strike a conversation about what’s going on in the streets.”

Fentanyl — laced in other drugs, like pain pills, or on its own — is 100 times more potent than morphine. Even a small amount of fentanyl can be deadly.

In Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, district leaders plan to stock in school buildings an FDA-approved medicine that can reverse or lessen the likelihood of death from a drug overdose.

Parents, some teens and public health experts say high school-aged youth are increasingly at risk of overdose from buying illicit painkiller pills laced with fentanyl.

A recent investigation by the Observer found teens easily buy knock-off prescription pain pills, sometimes deliberately escalate drug use by ingesting pure fentanyl and become addicted after first using drugs to deal with chronic mental health problems.

Fentanyl in schools

Some parents criticize what they see as a slow or muted response by the school district to address growing risks among teens.

The Observer’s data analysis shows drug incidents at a 10-year high in public schools in Charlotte and the steady increase in CMS outpaces the increase of drugs statewide in schools over the last decade.

Much of the public response to the current opioid crisis has focused on arresting dealers, particularly those in large trafficking networks, and making overdose reversal medicine more accessible for citizens and first responders. Locally, more than $70 million will be allocated to prevention efforts and addiction services. The funds come from money paid by major pharmaceutical companies that prescribed opioid drugs blamed for the nation’s addiction epidemic. North Carolina is in line to get $1.5 billion, most of which will be sent to local governments.

CMPD fentanyl campaign

CMPD’s new campaign — largely one of awareness and education — will be visible via flyers and other means in local high schools, officials announced Thursday. The department will also use billboards and no-questions-asked drop-off boxes for anyone to legally dispose of old medicine or illegal drugs.

The number of deaths due to overdoses is more than double the number of homicides in Charlotte this year, authorities said.

“These are scary numbers and they’re being fueled by fentanyl,” said Lt. Robert Sprague with CMPD’s Covert Operations Division.

He reiterated what police and health experts have warned for months: Trace amounts of fentanyl — or pure fentanyl — show up across the supply of street drugs.

“They’re selling 30 milligram doses to people who think that they’re buying Oxycontin,” Sprague said.

CMPD’s effort takes the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s campaign against fentanyl and makes it local and unique, said Lt. Kevin Pietrus, with CMPD Public Affairs.

“We need change, we need something impactful,” Pietrus said. “... In our city, in our schools and amongst our friends and our family.”

He said ideally the campaign prompts conversations among teachers with students and parents with teens.