Feds give Georgia agency grant to investigate fentanyl and opioid-related crimes

(The Center Square) — A $700,000 grant to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation will help the agency investigate fentanyl and opioid-related crimes and help clear its backlog of criminal investigations, a federal lawmaker said.

U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, a Georgia Democrat, announced the grant through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs’ Paul Coverdell Forensic Science Improvement Grant Program, named for a former U.S. senator from Georgia.

In a statement, Ossoff said the resources will “help Georgia law enforcement analyze substances, effectively investigate opioid and fentanyl related crimes, and bring perpetrators to justice.”

Like states across the country, fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid, has wreaked havoc in Georgia.

According to the Georgia Department of Public Health, opioid-related overdose deaths in Georgia increased by 207% between 2010 and 2020 and 101% between 2019 and 2021. According to the agency’s website, fentanyl, often found in cocaine, heroin and counterfeit pills, was responsible for the increase over the last few years.

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An Ossoff spokeswoman did not confirm whether the feds doled out any additional grants in Georgia as part of the Coverdell grant program. A GBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the grant.

“Fentanyl is a dangerous and highly toxic drug that has wreaked havoc in far too many communities,” Mike Register, then-director of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, said in a May news release announcing a 39-year-old Buford man was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison for selling fentanyl. “Disrupting the manufacturers and [distributors] of this poison remains a high priority for the GBI’s drug enforcement offices.”

Register subsequently resigned to accept the Cobb County Public Safety director position.

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