North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein is pushing for more resources to fight the spread of fentanyl.
In a visit to Charlotte on Wednesday, the Democrat running for governor also highlighted his work fighting drug traffickers so far.
Stein met local officials inside the Mecklenburg County Detention Center. He said nearly 3,400 North Carolinians lost their lives in fentanyl-related overdoses last year -- or more than nine every day -- and issued a call-to-action.
"To win this battle, we must do two things: reduce supply of this drug and demand for it," he said.
He praised Congress for including money in this year’s budget to install fentanyl-detection scanners along the U.S.-Mexico border. He also urged state lawmakers to fund a special unit of prosecutors in the North Carolina Attorney General’s office to focus specifically on fentanyl cases.
Stein is campaigning for governor, and will face Republican Mark Robinson in the November election. In Charlotte,