Fentanyl was cause of more than 60% of all Georgia overdose deaths in 2022

From 1999 to 2022, the Georgia Department of Public Health reports that 6,588 people have died from synthetic opioid overdoses. The state of Georgia notes that this category of drug is typically fentanyl.

Nearly every year since 1999, the number of overdoses in Georgia has gone up, to the point where in 2022, more than 60% of all overdose deaths in Georgia were said to be from those same synthetic opioids, according to the DPH’s OASIS database and additional data from the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC’s data shows there were 2,687 overdose deaths in Georgia in 2022. About 64% were from synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

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OASIS data from Georgia shows 1,717 of those overdose deaths were from synthetic opioids other than methadone, specifically noting fentanyl as the example drug.

By comparison, in 2012, the year the opioid crisis in America is reported to have started, Georgia had just 56 synthetic opioid deaths, OASIS data shows.

DPH reported that fentanyl-related deaths rose 124% from 2019 to 2021, rising from 614 to 1,379. In 2021, the department said 57% of overdose deaths were from fentanyl.

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The data shows that 6,012 of the synthetic opioid deaths in Georgia have happened since the crisis started in 2012. That’s 91%. More than a quarter of all synthetic opioid deaths happened in 2022.

Since 2012, the yearly number of fentanyl-related deaths have gone up dramatically. The largest group of those dead from synthetic opioids like fentanyl was Georgians 30 to 34 years old.

While the number of overdose deaths has started to go down, according to data from the CDC, they’re still elevated.

As of January 2023, Georgia had a predicted 2,649 opioid overdose deaths, CDC data showed. In January of 2024, that number fell slightly to 2,510. The CDC shows yearly totals in January, rather than reporting numbers as of December.

Data notes from the federal agency say “Reported provisional counts for 12-month ending periods are the number of deaths received and processed for the 12-month period ending in the month indicated.”

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