CUMMING, Ga. — The overdose numbers in Georgia paint a grim picture: deaths rising as the drugs get stronger.
Hope can come from Naloxone — a nasal spray commonly used to reverse the effects of a drug overdose.
"People need this in order to be able to break the cycle," said Patty Fairley with Georgia Overdose Prevention. "Generally, after the use of the Narcan, they come out and see the need to make some changes in their lives."
Fairley hosted a free Naloxone training at The Connection on Wednesday. A small group gathered to learn how and when to administer it.
Pat Bennie, with #NotInVain Warrior Moms, came to represent those who've lost loved ones to the overdose epidemic.
"I just try to do the very best that I can to be a cheerleader for individuals in recovery, to spread awareness, to educate," she said. "People have to realize that this is happening here and I want people to be aware that it happens to amazing, kind, beautiful people."
Her son, Peter Bennie III, began struggling with addiction after experimenting with drugs during his junior year of high school. He died in late 2018.
"A child stays in your heart, in your soul, in your brain forever and so I try to do what I know Peter would want me to do and that's to be an advocate for people that are in the situation that he was in," Bennie said. "He was a cheerleader of humans. I mean, he really was the type of person that just uplifted others."
A lot has changed with the overdose epidemic in the five years since his death. In many cases, a single dose of Naloxone isn't enough to bring someone back.
"It's getting worse and worse with the fentanyl coming around," Fairley said. "One of my son's friends had 12 kits used on them. He finally came out of it."
Nearly 9,000 Naloxone kits provided by Georgia Overdose Prevention and the Atlanta Harm Reduction Network have helped reverse overdoses, data showed.
Recovery advocates like Pat Bennie hope to keep increasing that number.
"Today, I'm taking Narcan with me because I never know where I'm going to be with an individual who needs that," Bennie said. "That would be wonderful to give them the opportunity to also have the recovery that they deserve."