Four drug overdoses in last 36 hours in Forsyth County
FORSYTH COUNTY, Ga. - Four overdoses in the past three days have authorities in Forsyth County trying to determine if “more deadly than usual” heroin has hit the area.
"We don't know that we were dealing with heroin or fentanyl, some very dangerous substance and we wanted to make our community aware that that had made its way into Forsyth County this weekend," said Forsyth County Sheriff Ron Freeman.
Officials told FOX 5 the latest fatality is a teenage girl, who died Monday morning.
The sheriff said two overdoses occurred at a home on Valley Lane in Cumming. Investigators said 33-year-old Jacob Oglesby was found unresponsive in the bathroom and died from a possible heroin overdose.
The police report indicated Oglesby's girlfriend, 28-year-old Heather Thomas, who tried to save him with CPR, was later found by her father in the home also overdosed. She was rushed to Northside Hospital Forsyth where she is recovering.
Investigators said "ounces" of heroin and fentanyl, hundreds of prescription narcotics, pounds of marijuana and lots of cash was found at the Cumming home where the OD's occurred.
"So in this case we know there was likely significant drug traffic associated with the address," said Sheriff Freeman.
A picture from the scene shows syringes, marijuana, suspected heroin and about 1,000 pills, according to deputies. Authorities suspect someone at the home was involved in possible drug trafficking because, they said, there were large amounts of drugs present.
The fourth overdose was that of a 30-year-old man who authorities believe involved OxyContin.
Authorities believe the rash of overdoses may be “indicative of a bad batch of deadly drugs such as heroin or fentanyl making their way into Forsyth County this weekend.”
Tammy Nicholson, director of the Forsyth County Drug Awareness Council said the multiple overdoses do not seem like a coincidence.
"Sometimes when you see these overdoses lumped together in small periods of time it's because the drugs are dirty," said Nicholson.
Nicholson is working closely with the sheriff's office on a drug summit Tuesday night. Nicholson said the summit will look at ways to address drug abuse including heroin deaths which have spiked nationwide in the last decade.
"The stigma needs to be broken on every level from someone who may be playing around with drugs and their parents don't know quite what to do to someone who maybe is in full blown addiction," said Nicholson.
Nicholson said the semiannual drug summit with a focus on intervention and treatment is meant to educate and empower the community.
"This is a safe environment to foster and encourage caring. And it needs everyone to come together and support each other," said Nicholson.
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