COCKE COUNTY, Tenn. — As 2023 approaches an end, Cocke County Sheriff's Office and Newport Police Department reported a total of 90 overdoses with 25 fatalities so far in 2023. The numbers show a rise in drug overdoses and deaths over the last two years.
The previous year, the CCSO and NPD reported 87 overdoses with eight fatalities. While in 2021, both agencies reported a combined 54 overdoses with 14 fatalities.
"More in the mid-20s to the mid-40s is probably the bigger age range of the ones that are really affected," said CJ Ball, the Cocke County Sheriff. "We've had overdoses in the jail."
One inmate said he was 13 years old when he started smoking marijuana. He said it eventually led to him using painkillers and stronger drugs.
"About 17 to 18, I started messing with heroin," said Adam Finchum. "Overdoses many times. And if it weren't for Narcan, I wouldn't be here."
He said his drug use eventually became a business. He said he sold methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl across Cocke County. He also said he could make up to $15,000 in a week. Ball said most drugs in Cocke County are from outside Tennessee and could be from across the U.S. border.
"They would give it to me for a good deal. When I could flip it, make a pretty good bit of money off of it," he said. "They wore a wire on me. And then that's how I got called for selling, deliveries and stuff, which, it really — they saved my life."
Ball also said drugs were making their way into the county jail. He said the county's narcotics team was equipped with equipment like Narcan, and funding rehabilitation programs in jail. Finchum said one of those programs has been helping him around two years into his three-year sentence.
"Even being incarcerated, I was still getting high. It's easier to get it in jail than on the streets, most of the time," said Finchum. "I've got a lot better chance where I'm at now. I'm cleaning. I'm sober."