CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. — A preliminary report found nationwide drug overdose deaths fell from 110,000 in 2023 to 80,000 in 2024 - a decline of nearly 27 percent and the lowest number of overdose deaths since 2019.
Channel 2’s Tom Regan reported a new law in Georgia could mean even fewer deaths in the future. That law, just signed by Gov. Brian Kemp, will sharply increase prison time and fines for people dealing fentanyl.
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“It’s the dealers’ turn. They know they are selling poison,” said parent Carolyn McDermott.
McDermott is praising tougher punishments for fentanyl dealers. In the course of just a few months, her two sons, 22-year old Gannon and 19-year-old Max, died after overdosing on it.
She says Gannon, an apprentice plumber, first got hooked on pain meds provided by a girlfriend. He then turned to buying street drugs.
“Gannon passed on Nov. 10, 2023, of a fentanyl overdose. He battled it for a little over a year. He actually died in a sober living house,” she said.
His adopted younger brother, also addicted to fentanyl, died just six months later.
“They played sports. We went to teacher-parent conferences. My husband is a high school teacher. I’m a high school counselor. We talked ad nauseum about drugs. No means no,” she said.
Following the deaths of their sons, the parents began lobbying for tougher laws. The legislation just signed by the governor mandates a maximum 10-year prison sentence for those convicted of trafficking between 4 to 8 grams of fentanyl and 35 years for a dealer caught with at least 28 grams.
“I don’t feel sorry for a fentanyl dealer getting 20 years, 30 years, because at least you’re here,” McDermott said. “My sons are in two urns. They did something they shouldn’t have done. I don’t defend what they did, but they paid for it with their lives. And we are paying for it the rest of our lives.”
She says the dealer who sold the fentanyl that killed her older son got 40 years in prison. She hopes the new law will deter people from selling the drug.
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