Protecting the right to healthcare for North Carolinians with substance use disorder
DRNC and Vital Strategies Overdose Prevention Program are working in partnership to protect the right to healthcare and other supportive services for North Carolinians with substance use disorder. Discrimination in healthcare against people with substance use disorder takes many forms:
- Being treated differently because of their past or present substance use disorder
- Denial of admission to a facility because they take medically assisted treatment for substance use disorder
- Refusing to treat you because of their substance use disorder
Factsheet – Substance Use Disorders and Access to Healthcare Services
Disability rights laws have an important role to play in combatting this serious and growing public health crisis in North Carolina. These laws provide people with SUDs equal access to lifesaving medical, rehabilitation, and harm reduction services. View our Substance Use Disorders and Access to Healthcare factsheet, which explains the legal rights people with SUD have to protect themselves against discrimination in healthcare settings.
View our library of resources.
Printable materials
When you have an Opioid Use or Substance Use Disorder (SUD), it can be hard to find the help that you need. DRNC has developed a statewide list of community services and resources for people with Opioid Use Disorder and/or Substance Use Disorder to make it easier to find help.
Program staff
Sara Harrington joined the DRNC team in March of 2023. She will spearhead DRNC’s new initiative to address discrimination against persons with substance use disorders in healthcare settings. Before coming to DRNC, Sara spent muc…
Dane Mullis joined the team in March 2023 as an advocate for people with substance use disabilities. His work focuses on community access to resources as well as the criminal legal system. Prior to joining the DRNC team, Dane worked as a cert…
Contact info
- Dane Mullis: sud@disabilityrightsnc.org / 919-856-2195, ext. 240
- Sara Harrington: sud@disabilityrightsnc.org / 919-856-2195 ext. 209
We want to hear your story
Discrimination in healthcare against people who use substances takes many forms, such as:
- treating someone differently or unequally because of their substance use or fears about substance use
- using policies and procedures that prevent people who use substances from participating in a program or receiving services
- failing to provide people who have a substance use disorder with a “reasonable accommodation” that is needed for participating in a program or receiving services
Disability Rights North Carolina (DRNC) is asking for stories of people who use substances who have been treated differently by a healthcare facility/provider because of their past or current substance use. These stories can help us fight for appropriate healthcare for people who use substances.
This is not an application for help. How to apply for legal help.