Cobb County Government and Cobb Public Health convened their first meeting of the Cobb Opioid Forum in efforts to develop a multi-discipline task force to address the local opioid crisis in Cobb County. The county-wide forum was held earlier today at Jim R. Miller Park. More than 80 partners attended the meeting, including government officials, healthcare providers, law enforcement, first responders, and victim advocates.

Cobb County officials from the District Attorney’s office and Cobb & Douglas Public Health created the task force after visiting several U.S. counties with proven opioid prevention and response programs. In these meetings they learned the resolution to the opioid problem requires a whole community approach. As a result, they have established the Cobb County Opioid Prevention and Response Model to focus on seven areas that represent those parts of the community engaged in opioid prevention, including:

• hospitals and emergency centers,
• families and the directly affected,
• opioid providers,
• naloxone access,
• law enforcement & judicial,
• community education and prevention, and
• assessment, treatment, and recovery.

“We are very excited about the goals that were discussed at the meeting and look forward to making an impact in addressing our community’s opioid epidemic,” said Cobb & Douglas Public Health District Director Dr. Janet Memark.

Opioid-involved deaths have been rapidly increasing in Georgia since 2010. The increase has been driven largely by increased use and misuse of prescription opioids. Of Georgia’s counties, Cobb had the highest rate of opioid-related overdose deaths in 2017 and the second highest rate in 2018.

For more information about the opioid epidemic, visit www.cobbanddouglaspublichealth.com/services-adult-health-services-opioid-epidemic/

To get involved with future opioid meetings in Cobb County, email: CobbOpioidTaskforce@dph.ga.gov.