In a study published this month, the City of Roanoke was ranked second in the nation for non-fatal drug overdoses per capita.
The study done by the National EMS Information System listed Roanoke as the second highest locality between the dates of March 13, 2022, and March 12, 2023.
Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke) is alarmed by these findings.
“This data is disturbing,” Rasoul said. “We must address this issue and provide assistance to those with substance use disorder before it is too late. We must expand SUD treatments now.”
Roanoke was not the only Virginia locality to make the top 10 of NEMSIS’s study. Portsmouth ranked sixth in the nation and the Commonwealth as a whole is classified as having “higher than average” non-fatal opioid overdose rates.
Rasoul has led the effort to transform Catawba Hospital in Roanoke County to combat the epidemic of substance use disorders in Roanoke and the New River Valley. Nearly half of the Commonwealth’s psychiatric treatment beds are also being used for treating substance use disorder and the expansion of Catawba Hospital will provide a significant resource to mitigate and treat substance use, Rasoul said.
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Crystal Graham
