A deadly decade

From 2008 through the end of last year, 859 people in Virginia’s
Piedmont region, including Prince William County, died from drug
overdoses.

In 4 out of 5 of those
deaths, opiates were 110

responsible 83%

100
Beginning in 2016, the number of opioid
deaths jumped dramatically—more than
40 percent. A big factor, according to law
90
enforcement officials, is the spreading use
of drugs laced with fentanyl, a synthetic
narcotic that’s 80 to 100 times stronger
than morphine. From 2016 through 2018,
80
almost 78 percent of the opioid deaths in
Fauquier County involved fentanyl. The rate
of deaths was only slightly lower in
Culpeper and Prince William 70
counties—about 67 percent.

60

Prince William
50
Number of opioid
overdose deaths
per year
Faquier
40

30
Culpeper

20
Orange

Manassas City 10

Madison

Rappahannock Manassas Park 0

2008 ’09 ’10 ’11 ’12 ’13 ’14 ’15 ’16 ’17 ’18

Total opioid overdose deaths, 2008-2018 Deaths per 1000

Prince William 341 0.7

Fauquier 114 1.6

Culpeper 89 1.7

Orange 70 1.9

Manassas City 55 1.4

Madison 20 1.5

Manassas Park 15 0.9

Rappahannock 9 1.3

Source: Virginia Department of Health