AG Carr on the addiction stigma

September is National Recovery Month, and today, an estimated 180,000 Georgians are living with an opioid-use disorder. To put this staggering number into perspective, that means we have a population the size of Macon coping with the malicious effects caused by the opioid crisis.

That was the opening paragraph of Attorney General Chris Carr’s op-ed to address the stigma of drug addiction in the past Sunday’s Atlanta Journal Constitution. To illustrate the fallacy, Carr recounted the story of Doreen Barr’s son Ryan and his losing battle with opioids.

In closing AG Carr asked that we “in taking steps to break down the debilitating stigma associated with addiction by encouraging a positive discourse in your community.”