One of the issues that candidates are talking about on the campaign trail is overdose deaths from fentanyl.
Drug overdoses are the leading cause of unnatural death in Virginia. And even though fentanyl overdoses are down significantly from a peak in 2021, candidates are talking about this issue on the campaign trail.
"I promised you, Virginia, we were going to go after our fentanyl dealers that are poisoning our kids, and we have," says Attorney General Jason Miyares, a Republican who is running for reelection. "My office alone has prosecuted and removed enough fentanyl off our streets that would have taken the lives of seven million Virginians."
Virginia has about nine million people, so seven million would be the vast majority of people in the state. A spokesman for Miyares says the amount of fentanyl his office helped remove from the streets as part of Operation Ceasefire could have killed seven million people. Rob Poggenklass at Justice Forward Virginia says that's a ridiculous claim, and that the decline in overdose deaths is a result of public health measures.
"The fact that naloxone is widely available in Virginia and people know how to use it to stop overdoses. The fact that we have fentanyl testing strips. Those types of things are what is actually leading to the decline of fentanyl deaths," Poggenklass says.
Democratic candidate for attorney general Jay Jones says he wants to create a Drug Trafficking Unit in the AG's office, raise penalties for fentanyl-related money laundering and support efforts to help overcome addiction.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
