Fatal drug overdoses in Cobb County dropped to 89 in 2025, down from 121 in 2024, a decline of more than 26%.

The figures come from the Georgia Department of Public Health's OASIS database, as first reported by the Marietta Daily Journal. The county's overdose death total has fallen each year since 2022. The death rate per 100,000 residents dropped to 11.2 in 2025 from 15.3 in 2024.

Jennifer Tillery, accountability court director at Cobb Accountability Courts in Marietta, credits a multi-agency coalition formed in 2022 to coordinate the county's response.

"We can attribute it to public awareness and the fact that in Cobb County around 2022, a multi-agency coalition, strategic coalition formed to organize focused efforts to abate the crisis," Tillery told Atlanta News First in a Friday, Sept. 25, report.

But Tillery warned that fentanyl is now showing up in drugs people don't associate with opioids. Users of methamphetamine, other substances and even marijuana are testing positive for fentanyl without knowing it was in their supply, she said.

Of the 89 fatal overdoses in 2025, 47 involved synthetic opioids including fentanyl. That category accounted for 66 deaths in 2024.

State Sen. Kay Kirkpatrick, R-East Cobb, told the Marietta Daily Journal that wider availability of naloxone has been a major factor in the decline. Naloxone became easier to obtain in Georgia after a December 2016 statewide standing order allowed pharmacists to dispense it without a doctor's prescription.

Kirkpatrick, a former orthopedic surgeon, cautioned that the threat persists. "It doesn't mean that we are out of the woods on this problem. Because it continues to be a killer of young people, in particular, and so the crisis is not over. But it appears that we're making progress," she told the paper Sept. 20.

Brooke Comley, a drug treatment case manager at Cobb County Superior Court, said she sees clients at every stage of recovery. Some arrive stabilized. Others come straight from custody with almost nothing. She called the recent decline encouraging.

Enforcement is running alongside treatment. In June, the Marietta/Cobb/Smyrna Narcotics Unit, a joint effort among eight law enforcement agencies and the Cobb County District Attorney's Office, seized more than 25 pounds of fentanyl worth an estimated $1.65 million during a traffic stop. Sheriff Craig Owens called fentanyl "one of the most dangerous drugs our communities have ever faced" in a June statement, noting that an amount comparable to a few grains of salt can kill.

As of June 2024, Cobb County had received more than $5.2 million in opioid lawsuit settlement funds, with millions more expected over the next two decades, according to county records. An Opioid Abatement Advisory Council held its first meeting that month to guide how the money is spent.

Statewide, fatal drug overdoses fell to 1,679 in 2025 from 1,990 in 2024. Cobb's 26% decline outpaced the state's roughly 16% drop.

Residents who need help with substance use can call the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) national helpline at 1-800-662-4357. The line is free, confidential and available around the clock.