Overdose Calls To 911 Decreased In 2024, But Addiction Remains Major Problem

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

Drug abuse is still a key issue in Dade County, in Georgia, and in the United States as a whole, but one hopeful data point is that overdose calls went down from 2023 to 2024. Calls about overdoses that came through dispatch numbered 47 in 2023 but only 33 in 2024.

However, Chad Payne (Dade County Sheriff’s Office public information officer) reported that despite the decreased overdoses, the department isn’t seeing a decrease in drug use (particularly fentanyl).

Here is a recent history of overdose calls (fatal and non-fatal included) that came through dispatch:

• 2019: 9
• 2020: 29
• 2021: 45
• 2022: 45
• 2023: 47
• 2024: 33

Since drug use is still rampant, Payne speculated that one reason for the decrease could be that users have been more careful, particularly with fentanyl. The sheriff’s office has often seen that addicts who sober up in jail return to their same Fentanyl dosage once they’re released. However, their bodies are intolerant to that amount, resulting in overdosing. If addicts have learned this and adjusted their actions accordingly, that may contribute to the decreased overdose calls.

DCSO deputies receive training in CPR and basic first aid as well as annual drug awareness training. They carry naloxone (often referred to by the brand name Narcan) that reverses opioid overdoses.

Looking at just the last three years, drug-related arrests stayed about the same from 2023 to 2024:

• 2022: 102
• 2023: 135
• 2024: 133

The Sentinel wasn’t able to find state-wide data about drug overdoses and arrests in the last two years.

The vast majority of the drugs found in Dade County are not produced here, and arrests often include travelers passing through on the interstates. Users typically access drugs in Chattanooga. These drugs come across the border before being distributed throughout the nation.

Aside from overdoses and deaths, drug addiction causes many problems, including the breakdown of family relationships and friendships, unsteady employment, increased theft, violence, and other crimes, and increased burdens on the healthcare system, law enforcement, and the justice system. Collectively, this creates an increased burden on taxpayers.

DCSO has found that much of the crime in Dade is connected to drug use in some form or fashion. For example, some addicts will steal valuable items and sell them for cash that they then use to feed their addiction, so while they might be arrested for a theft, drug use is at the root of the problem.

The sheriff’s office supports proactive steps to prevent addictions from forming, like the C.H.A.M.P.S. program in Dade County Schools. C.H.A.M.P.S (Choosing Healthily Activities and Methods Promoting Safety) starts in fifth grade in Georgia schools and encourages children to stay away from drugs.

As for addressing those who are already trapped in addiction, Sheriff Ray Cross, Joseph Chambers (Dade County Jail captain), Payne, and the rest of the DCSO team are supportive of the success A Hand Up Ministry and Celebrate Recovery have had. With the help of these ministries, some of the addicts that were once housed in the Dade County Jail have recovered and rebuilt lives as healthy, contributing members of society.

Also, as for tracking down drug dealers, we have the Lookout Mountain Judicial Circuit Drug Task Force. The force works big cases, like drug cartel cases, to attempt to find suppliers and sources and stem the flow of drugs into our community.