Public Safety

Fatal opioid overdoses are up by the hundreds, devastating families and worrying officials

By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff and Jasmine Hilton
July 8, 2021 | Updated today at 11:50 a.m. EDT

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In the District, the city’s medical examiner identified fentanyl in 95 percent of the 87 overdose deaths through March this year, a number that has risen steadily in recent years; 281 overdose deaths in 2019 and 411 in 2020. Black residents, who make up 46 percent of the city according to census data, have been disproportionately affected. More than four out of five people who die of overdoses in the city are Black, according to data from city officials.

The Arlington County Sheriff’s Office tweeted recently that the trend has worsened in the past two weeks because of a reportedly bad batch of fentanyl that has led to at least 15 fatal overdoses in the region, including six in Arlington alone.

Alexandria has already recorded 59 fatal and nonfatal overdoses through June 30, which is on pace to break last year’s high of 104. ... Emily Bentley, Alexandria’s opioid response coordinator, attributes the recent spike to dealers lacing substances with the cheaper, more addictive fentanyl. She noted that unsuspecting marijuana users may be taking drugs laced with the synthetic opioid, broadening the types of drug users who could be impacted. ... “We need to reach an audience we’ve never targeted before,” she said.

Police reports in Montgomery County, Maryland’s largest county, show that fatal opioid overdoses are up 33 percent, and nonfatal overdoses are up 57 percent this year as of the end of June, compared with the same period in 2020.

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By Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff
Dan Rosenzweig-Ziff is an intern on the local desk working in D.C. He previously was an intern at The Texas Tribune covering the pandemic and the economy, and a freelancer for The Post's local desk. Twitter https://twitter.com/danrosziff

By Jasmine Hilton
Jasmine Hilton is a reporting intern covering crime and courts on the Metro desk. Twitter https://twitter.com/jas_hilton