Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, fatal drug overdoses have exploded in Virginia, and health officials are predicting “the worst year on record by far” for such deaths in the commonwealth.

From January through June, at least 1,086 Virginians died from overdoses of fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, prescription opioids and other drugs, the state medical examiner has found. That represented a 39 percent increase from the first half of 2019.

During the second quarter of this year (April through June), the state registered at least 634 drug fatalities during those three months — 67 percent more than during the corresponding period in 2019. … [My article for Virginia Mercury]