US reaches grim milestone for deadly drug overdoses
Georgia woman shares cautionary tale of addiction as US overdose deaths top 100K
More than 100,000 overdose deaths have happened in the United State in the last year for the first time, the CDC said. A Georgia woman is sharing the story of her brother, who died from an overdose, to try to raise awareness.
ATLANTA - The US has reached a never-before-seen level of deadly drug overdoses.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control estimates more than 100,000 people died from drug overdoses from April 2020 to April 2021.
Overdose deaths have been on the rise for more than two decades but it's never topped 100,000.
DeAnne Turner lost her only brother 10 months ago.
"My stepmom heard what she thought… She thought he was choking. She got up to see what was going on and he was on the floor. He was dead," Turner said.
On that day in January, Turner said he took what he thought was a Xanax, unaware it was laced with fentanyl.
She said 28-year-old Gerald Gilbert struggled with addiction, but at the time he had been clean for several months.
"Being a surviving sibling, seeing your parents…They're just broken. Our whole family is broken," Turner said.
It's a pain shared by many others throughout the country.
CDC data shows there was about a 30 percent jump in overdose deaths from the previous 12 month period.
In Georgia, there was a 36 percent increase.
"It's devastating. It's sickening, honestly," Turner said.
Experts said the pandemic and the lockdowns could have contributed to the increase, along with the growing prevalence of fentanyl, the same drug that Turner said took her younger brother's life.
Since his death, she's learned about the dangers of the potent drug that is being mixed into other drugs, unbeknownst to the user.
"It takes like a tip of a toothpick worth to kill you. They don't mean to go out like that. It's tragic. It's terrible," Turner said.
She has taken her pain and propelled it into creating awareness and advocating for change.
Turner said changes need to be made so that people selling the drugs are held accountable.
She and her close friend who also lost a loved one to an overdose held the first-ever drug overdose awareness day in Paulding County.
"We have to speak up. We have to tell the truth. We have to spread as much knowledge as we can to try and save another life. To try to save another family from this heartbreak," Turner said.
WATCH: FOX 5 NEWS LIVE COVERAGE
_____
GET BREAKING NEWS EMAIL ALERTS FROM FOX 5
DOWNLOAD THE FOX 5 ATLANTA APP FOR BREAKING NEWS AND WEATHER ALERTS