County Opioid Response

The Opioid Crisis

In 2020, more than 100,000 people died from a drug overdose. The opioid epidemic started in the 1990's with the over-prescribing of opioid medications. Over time the epidemic moved away from prescription opioids and shifted to heroin and fentanyl. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, is the now main driver of the opioid overdose crisis.

Chesterfield County offers a variety of services to help combat the opioid epidemic:

For more information, email the substance use outreach coordinator.

  1. Overdose Prevention

Overdose Prevention

Overdose deaths have been on the rise. Opioids are a major factor, but we also know that many people use more than one drug at a time. This is called poly-substance use and is another major factor in the increase in overdoses.

Overdose prevention involves preventing drug use, providing treatment to those who want it, offering harm reduction, and providing recovery support. In Chesterfield County, we offer training on how to use Narcan (naloxone) a medication that can save a life during an opioid overdose. This life-saving medication is available for free.

For further questions, please reach out to Lauren Herschler, Substance Use Outreach Coordinator by phone or email.

  1. Prevention
  1. Stigma and Substance Use Disorder (Addiction)
  1. Treatment

Substance Use Steering Committee

The Substance Use Steering Committee was established in fall 2017 (as the Opioid Steering Committee) to address the heroin and opioid crisis in Chesterfield County as it, along with its neighbors regionally, was seeing an increase in deaths and overdoses. Through inter-departmental collaboration and communication we working to better serve Chesterfield County residents.

The Steering Committee is led by the assistant county administrator for human services and is represented by all county departments who touched this issue, including:

  • Chesterfield County Fire and EMS
  • Chesterfield County Police
  • Chesterfield County Public Schools
  • Chesterfield County Sheriff’s Office
  • Commonwealth’s Attorney
  • Communications and Media
  • Community Corrections
  • County Attorney’s Office
  • Courts
  • Drug Court
  • Information Systems Technology
  • Mental Health Support Services
  • Substance Abuse Free Environment (SAFE) Coalition
  • Social Services
  • Virginia Department of Health - Chesterfield District