Spike in overdoses prompts mother to share daughter’s story in hope of saving lives

GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Police are investigating a spike in drug overdoses across metro Atlanta. Officers say dozens of people have overdosed in just the last few weeks.

A Gwinnett County mother who lost her daughter to fentanyl is warning other parents about that spike, hoping her daughter’s story will save lives.

Tasha Edwards said it just took one pill laced with fentanyl to kill her 18-year-old daughter Breanna Scott.

“I never even heard of fentanyl until this happened to my child,” Edwards said. “It can happen to anybody’s child.”

She told Channel 2′s Matt Johnson that it happened at a party in 2020 in DeKalb County when Scott was handed what she thought was Percocet.

“She was a happy kid, very spoiled. And I know it was just an accident,” Edwards said.

She has kept a memorial up for her in their Buford home for the past two years.

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“We went everywhere together, did a lot of things together. So just her presence overall … I miss her,” Edwards said.

Gwinnett County police have reported 41 overdoses in the past 18 days. Officers are reassuring people not to be scared to call 911, because it could save a life.

“The patient that’s overdosing, or the friend, or the person that calls will not be charged,” said Officer Hideshi Valle with the Gwinnett County Police Department.

County leaders told Johnson that the increase in overdoses involve not only addicts put young people without histories of addiction.

“It’s a much more dangerous world that we’re living in today. And so, experimentation can oftentimes lead to death,” said Farley Barge with Navigate Recovery Gwinnett.

It’s why Edwards said her daughter’s death was a wake-up call she doesn’t want any other mother to get.

“I’m sure there’s other parents that don’t even know that this is a thing, and it’s killing so many of our kids,” Edwards said.

Police said while they won’t arrest people for calling 911 for overdosing, they will still go after people who sell the deadly opioid in the community.

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