Chattooga County is one of six rural Georgia counties that is being targeted by UGA Cooperative Extension to address opioid misuse in rural communities.

The program is being funded by a $350,000 Rural Health and Safety Education grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  UGA Extension will be working with the rural communities through community-based outreach to address the opioid epidemic.

More than 75% of the nearly 107,000 drug overdose deaths in 2021 involved an opioid.  Higher rates of poverty and lack of resources in rural communities are significant factors.

“While the focus is primarily on prevention of opioid misuse, any time you talk about opioids, you’re going to need some knowledge of what to do if somebody is using, like a family member,” principal investigator Diane Bales, a UGA Extension human development specialist and faculty member in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, said. “That’s been a big part of this project because it’s such an important issue.”

The project targets six Georgia counties – Chattooga, Elbert, Mitchell, Tattnall, Telfair and Washington – and focuses largely on educating youths around decision-making and mental health, in addition to general education about opioids.