FENTANYL CRISIS: Children as young as 10 years old are dying from overdoses

ATLANTA — There’s a community-wide effort to save lives when it comes to the fentanyl crisis across Georgia.

More people are dying at an alarming rate, especially young people.

The Georgia Harm Reduction Coalition reports recent data that shows people ages 10-19 years old had the largest jump in fentanyl overdoses at 108%.

Channel 2′s Linda Stouffer spoke with a man who recently lost his daughter to a fentanyl overdose.

Randal Salay spoke to Stouffer about his daughter, Rachael.

“She was always trying to uplift other people”, said Salay.

Rachael went to the University of Georgia where she studied cognitive science. Her father said she was feeling sore and stressed when she took what she likely thought was a prescription painkiller.

Instead of getting something to cure her pain and anxiety, Salay says she got a fake pill laced with fentanyl.

Rachael never woke up.

Salay told Stouffer, “It was a good point in her life. Everything seemed to be working really well for her. And it was just a mistake because she wanted to make herself feel better.”

Meanwhile, at a club in east Atlanta, management keeps naloxone – or Narcan – behind the bar. Rafay Nabeel, a bartender, walked Stouffer through a night he found two men passed out on the sidewalk outside of the business.

“Obviously these guys are completely incoherent. This isn’t a saltine and water solution. This is like, they are probably overdosing. So I got the box and tore it open and basically shoved it in the guy’s nose and administered it”, explained Nabeel.