The Opioid Crisis Pain and Progress
HAMPTON ROADS, Va. (WAVY) – Opioids continue to be a major public health crisis in Virginia, but evidence of progress is beginning to emerge, especially in Hampton Roads.
“We still have a long way to go,” said Carolyn Weems of Virginia Beach. Now an advocate for parents and addiction education, she lost her 21-year-old daughter Caitlyn to heroin five years ago.
Statewide, the number of opioid overdose deaths increased 8 percent last year, from 1,138 to 1,227. In other words, an average of more than three Virginians each day. Attorney General Mark Herring says he has made the opioid crisis a top priority of his administration. “The numbers are still really, really large.