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The opioid crisis in the United States began in the 1990s, when pharmaceutical companies heavily marketed new prescription opioid medications, such as OxyContin.  Between 1999 and 2010 prescription opioid sales in the U.S, quadrupled, and related deaths doubled.  That stretch is now known as the first wave of the opioid crisis.  

In the early 2010s Mexican cartels cranked up their production of heroin to meet the newfound demand for opioids in the U.S.  From 2010 to 2016 the rate of heroin-related deaths increased from 1 to 4.9 per 100,000, and by 2015 heroin had surpassed prescription medications as the leading opioid involved in overdose deaths.  This period later became known as the second wave of the opioid crisis.  

By 2016 synthetic opioids – chief among them fentanyl – had surpassed heroin as the leading opioid involved in overdose deaths in the U.S.  Fentanyl is up to 50 times stronger than heroin, and is often used by drug dealers to cut their product to make it more potent.  Its rise led to an explosion in overdose deaths nationwide, rising from from 10.4 to 21.4 per 100,000 between 2015 and 2020.  

Georgia has been caught in the middle of the crisis since the start, and despite the best efforts of lawmakers and state health officials, overdose deaths have continued to climb as we’ve entered the third wave of the opioid crisis, fueled by fentanyl.  The total number of opioid-involved overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 302 percent from 2010 to 2022, and last year alone 1,601 lives were lost to fentanyl-involved overdoses.  

Local, state, and federal officials all continue to work on ways to combat the issue.  In 2017 Georgia created the Statewide Opioid Task Force, which looks to bring together experts in the public, private and non-profit sectors.  Border security remains one of the most important campaign issues as we approach the November presidential election as the vast majority of fentanyl entering the country comes across our southern border.  

U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a pharmacist by trade, is uniquely positioned to tackle overdoses in his home district on Georgia’s southeastern coast.  On August 21st he marked Fentanyl Awareness and Prevention Day by securing the donation of 900 units of naloxone, an overdose reversal drug, to organizations in Georgia’s First Congressional District.  Working in conjunction with Walgreens, Carter announced the donation at a naloxone training event hosted in Savannah, where he taught members of the public about the importance of over-the-counter naloxone products as a tool to help combat America’s fentanyl and opioid crisis.

“Naloxone is a fantastic tool that Americans can use to combat the current fentanyl and opioid crisis that we are facing,” said Carter. “It belongs in every medicine cabinet across the country. The naloxone training event that we held on August 20^th was a fantastic event and showed just how ready and willing citizens of GA-01 are to defend themselves, their neighbors, and their fellow Americans from this deadly crisis.”

When used quickly, naloxone can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.  Carter has made it one of his chief objectives in Washington to allow for easier access to the drug, advocating for the Food and Drug Administration to make naloxone available over-the-counter, a move it took in 2023. 

“Nearly 1000 lives will be saved because of the donation facilitated by Walgreens today. I am thrilled that GA-01 residents will have this lifesaving resource available to them and will continue pushing for naloxone to be as accessible as defibrillators. I carry it with me wherever I go, because you never know when you could be called on to save a life. As a pharmacist, I encourage every family to keep naloxone in their medicine cabinets. If you think the fentanyl poisoning couldn’t happen in your home or your community, think again,” said Carter.