Cobb County leaders, including a state House representative, will speak at an upcoming event about the opioid epidemic and its effect locally.
The Davis Direction Foundation is hosting the symposium — entitled "The Vicious Cycle: Why the Opioid Epidemic Continues to Thrive" — on June 29.
The Marietta group’s medical director Dr. Harold McLendon will present the Cobb County Medical Examiner’s 2016 data compared to 2015 numbers and discuss national trends along with new drug dangers like skin exposure.
Touching pills like those that caused five people to overdose and die earlier this month in Middle Georgia can cause serious consequences, as they "are extremely toxic in even the smallest quantities," said the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Dozens of people were hospitalized after contact with the oval pill incorrectly stamped "Percocet."
State Rep. Bert Reeves, R-Marietta, will speak about previous addiction legislation and why it did or didn't pass.
Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds will talk about how the criminal justice system and courts are addressing the epidemic.
The Davis Direction group is named after Davis Owen, an East Cobb man who died in March 2014 from a heroin overdose.
This is the seventh symposium. The first was in June 2014, said Missy Owen, Davis’ mother. She will also speak at the event, which runs from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Marietta Performing Arts Center on Whitlock Avenue.
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