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News Articles: substance use disorder

Brittney Galvanauskas looks at a piece of art on the wall at Living Proof Recovery in Rome, Georgia.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Proponents say prioritizing recovery services over punishments may reduce fentanyl overdoses

Georgia Senate Bill 79 or the Fentanyl Reduction and Eradication Act, takes Austin's Law to the next step, establishing mandatory minimum sentences for drug crime.

April 02, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
A pair of gloved hands holds a clear, plastic bag with fentanyl.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

A new Georgia bill would add mandatory minimum sentences to fentanyl-related crimes and deaths

A bill called the Fentanyl Eradication and Removal Act that passed out of Georgia’s Senate last week would create mandatory minimum sentences for those trafficking in fentanyl if passed by the House and signed by the governor.

March 12, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Mental Health Parity Day at the Capitol 2025

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Not enough to have Mental Health Parity Act — it must be enforced, say advocates at Georgia Capitol

The Legislature passed Georgia’s Mental Health Parity Act in 2022. Since then, the Carter Center and mental health care advocates have remembered the day by visiting lawmakers and asking agencies to hold insurance companies accountable for keeping the state law.

February 20, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Rosalynn Carter testifies on behalf of the President’s Commission on Mental Health before the Senate Subcommittee on Health and Scientific Research of the Committee on Labor and Human Resources on February 7, 1979. She was the second first lady to appear before Congress.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

Mental Health Parity Day celebrates work of Carter Center and Georgia leaders

Work at the Carter Center helped make Georgia the leader when it comes to certified peer specialists, who are trained to counsel others from a perspective of shared experience.

January 24, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
A memorial poster for people who died by overdose

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Council wants better definitions, resources and support for peer-led recovery programs in Georgia

Bills to define and regulate sober living housing, add funding for local peer-led support programs and better enforce healthcare parity laws are high priority for mental health stakeholders this session.

January 22, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge and
  • Sofi Gratas
File photo of several dozen pills containing fentanyl. They are circular and blue, with one side showing a capital letter M and the other side showing the number 30.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Year end drug seizures by Atlanta agents show continued rise in deadly pills

Nationally, synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, now cause more overdose deaths than any other illicit drug.

January 03, 2025
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Homeless men sleep on Marietta Street in Atlanta, Friday, June 5, 2020. On Monday, Feb. 13, 2023, a Georgia Senate committee passed a bill that would say cities and counties could not stop enforcing bans on public camping or sleeping.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

DeKalb County needs 'housing first' approach to end homeless cycle of mental illness, incarceration

Between 2022 and 2023, there was a 63% increase in the length of time people experienced homelessness in DeKalb County. A disproportionate number of those impacted are children and people of color.

November 06, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
drug court grad

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

After a long journey through accountability court, Middle Georgia graduates prepare for their future

In Georgia, those that make it through accountability court programs — over 1,000 every year — are far less likely to re-enter incarceration and addiction.

August 15, 2024
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
A group of students at Kennesaw State University stand with a sign that says "make yourself a priority"

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

New documentary celebrates Georgia's decades of innovative 'certified peer specialist' training

Since the late 1980s, Georgia has led the way in training professional peer counselors with substance misuse and mental health challenges to help others in similar situations.

August 14, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Could a Simple Intervention Fight a Suicide Crisis?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Georgia can improve access to mental health care by fully funding 988, report says

In 2022, total deaths by suicide and drug overdose declined slightly for the first time in five years, according to a report from Trust for America’s Health.

August 12, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Keaton Warner and Jillian Canada stand in front of a poster with a wheel of feelings at Roswell High School.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

How Roswell High School addresses student mental health needs amid dual deadly epidemics

Teachers at Roswell High School allow students to leave class for therapy appointments and return without missing a beat because teachers know that if the student is struggling with mental health, they're not going to be able to focus on math or science, school social worker Valerie Rogers says.

 

June 17, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Randy Nichols hold up plans for a campus dedicated to people in drug and alcohol addiction recovery.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

New zoning law may help prevent stigma against housing for people in addiction recovery

Local rezoning requests typically take between 15 to 45 days under Georgia state code, but, until this year, that wasn’t true for all properties.

 

June 03, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Delgates vote by holding up yellow cards in the audience at the Dawson County government building March 21, 2024.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

6 regional councils in Georgia to review grant requests from opioid lawsuit settlement funds

Money for programs approved by the Region 1 Advisory Council affect communities north of the metro Atlanta area.

March 27, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
A person grabbing a box of Narcan from a free dispensary

Tagged as: 

  • Health

As lawmakers work to expand access to Narcan, harm reduction services extend beyond Atlanta

A bill to allow opioid overdose reversal medication in school unanimously passed the Georgia Senate and now heads to the House.

March 01, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Matthew Pesce holds a framed photo of him and his son, who died by suicide.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

Forsyth County commissioners are split on funding mental health care residents say is badly needed

Commissioners in Forsyth County are split on whether to use federal COVID relief funds for mental health care now that the planned building costs exceed the budget by $12 million. The plan is now up in the air, to the frustration of many residents.

February 28, 2024
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
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