Fairfax County is a great place to live, work and play. I should know as I have been living (and working here) since 2009. I was SHOCKED! when I read in the Fairfax County Health and Human Services Needs Assessment 2019:
Increasing Fentanyl and Heroin Death Overdose rates
the 25-34 age group had the highest rate of fentanyl and/or heroin overdose deaths in Fairfax from 2013 to 2017
in Virginia, white males and males aged 25-34 had the highest mortality rates compared to other demographics in 2017
overall, in Virginia opioid overdoses accounted for 80.1% (1.230) of all drug overdose deaths in 2017.
in Fairfax County, there were 114 opioid-related deaths in 2017. While the count appears to be down for 2018, the proportion of overall deaths that include fentanyl is increasing and is higher in Fairfax County compared to all of the other reporting counties in Virginia. Fentanyl accounted for 62% of all drug deaths in Fairfax County in 2017, compared to 50% in Virginia. (#OUCH! #SHOCKED!)
When I was traveling to Rappahannock County for PRS Training in February 2020, many of my peers who lived closer to that area had much more interesting stories regarding current drug use and activity. [However, the attached pics I actually captured one early morning after coming back from a coffee run ~ leads me to believe that poor car had been like that all night. :(] I must be blind here in Fairfax or really foccused...and of course the whole age gap thingy! Whatever's to blame is a
blessing!!! <3
*I hope to make a difference to the MH/SUD community...one peer at a time!
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