Having seen a major drop in opioid overdoses among teens, some Fairfax County supervisors want to focus prevention efforts on young adults.
The 18-to-24 and 25-to-34 age groups appear to be where services need to be intensified, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay said during a Nov. 25 briefing on the county’s opioid services.
“I just want to make sure we explore everything we can … [to] continue to drive these numbers down,” McKay said.
The presentation to the Board’s Safety & Security Committee reported “sharply declined” levels of overdoses among teens since a 2023 peak, said Ellen Volo, an opioid response manager for the Fairfax-Falls Church Community Services Board (CSB).
Fairfax’s drop in overdoses among that group mirrors a similar trend nationwide, she said.
The improvements shine “some positive light to a dark, dark subject,” said Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, who chairs the committee.
To keep that momentum, the county needs to be “doubling down” on services for those past their teenage years through their mid-30s, McKay said.
Volo responded that, hopefully, work already done with teens to provide awareness of the dangers of opioids will stick with them as they grow into adulthood.
The goal for targeting teens is to “connect with folks earlier on, get them on the right path,” she said.
According to a county data dashboard, slightly older adults have been more affected by overdose incidents involving opioids across the Fairfax Health District since January 2016 than those in their college years:
- In the 18-to-24 age group, there have been 469 nonfatal and 122 fatal overdoses through October 2025
- In the 25-to-34 age group, there have been 788 nonfatal and 274 fatal overdoses through March 2025
Many of current initiatives targeting the 18-to-34 age group are centered at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center, where many incarcerated individuals are battling opioid addiction.
Currently, nearly 125 inmates per month are receiving treatment, said Chief Deputy Sheriff Casey Lingam, with a team of three “handing out medication pretty much around the clock.”
Fairfax County to date has been allocated about $10 million from the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority, which collects settlement funds from opioid manufacturers and determines how they will be spent.
Some of the funding sent to Fairfax County already has been spent, with an allocation of an additional $2.2 million being sought by staff from supervisors to continue ongoing initiatives. At the meeting, supervisors seemed receptive to the request.
The county also is participating in a regional effort, funded by a Opioid Abatement Authority grant, to set up a 16-bed detox facility for teens. The Northern Virginia Adolescent Treatment Center is slated to open in Chantilly next spring, with ultimate plans calling for a replacement facility to double capacity.
Sixteen beds “is helpful,” but Lusk questioned whether it will meet the region’s needs.
CSB Executive Director Daryl Washington said that, typically, “not a huge number of youth” require in-patient treatment for opioid issues.
But county officials are monitoring the experiences in Prince William and Loudoun counties, which are in the process of ramping up similar treatment centers, he said.
From January 2016 through March 2025, the Fairfax Health District has reported 857 opioid-caused deaths among all age groups.
Fentanyl is the most prevalent cause of death, followed by heroin and prescription medication, county officials report.
In addition, there were 2,677 nonfatal incidents between January 2016 and October 2025, officials said.
For the first three months of 2025, there were 14 fatal opioid overdoses in the county, a rate slightly below the same period in 2024. For the first 10 months of the year, there were 206 non-fatal incidents, county officials said.
A recent survey by Inova found that more than half of Northern Virginia residents were personally impacted by substance use either directly or through someone they knew.
Photo by Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash
