Five years ago, Zack Elliott was at the forefront of an epidemic.
At 21 years old, Elliott died of a heroin overdose in May 2011. A guitar player and classical pianist, he was one of 19 people in Fulton County to die from the drug that year.
Since then, the numbers have only risen, and there were more heroin-related deaths in Fulton in 2015 than anywhere else in the state — last year, 104 people died in Fulton from using the opiates heroin or fentanyl.
» GET THE FULL STORY: Efforts to combat heroin deaths on rise locally
» PERSONAL JOURNEYS: AJC columnist Jeff Schultz’s story about his own son’s struggle with heroin
» LEARN MORE: How many heroin and fentanyl deaths does Fulton County log each year?
» PHOTO ESSAY: Small towns grapple with heroin epidemic
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