For years, Virginia’s opioid crisis was often framed as a rural, white problem centered in the state’s Southwest.
But new data shows that large cities and Black communities have been hit increasingly hard, including several in Hampton Roads.
The analysis from Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia Department of Health looked at opioid-related harm – a measure capturing the economic toll of the opioid crisis, including lost labor from premature deaths, health care spending and criminal justice costs…