Overdose Deaths
Accidental and undetermined fatal drug overdoses (not including homicides and suicides), included in this dashboard, are provided by the Office of the Chief Medican Examiner. VMEDS, an internal agency database, contains detailed information on all deaths reported to the OCME regardless of whether the OCME accepted the case or not. Data presented in this dashboard are based on accepted cases of either full autopsy or external exams.
Drug-related deaths may have more than one drug causing or contributing to death. Deaths in which multiple categories of drugs caused or contributed to death will be represented within each drug category. For example, a fatal cocaine, heroin, and Alprazolam overdose death will be counted in the cocaine drop down, the heroin drop down, and the benzodiazepine drop down. When looking at all substances, these cases will only be counted once.
Due to the nature of law enforcement and OCME death investigation, all deaths presented in this report are based upon locality of occurrence and not residential status of the decedent. This dashboard compiles data on drugs causing or contributing to death in fatal drug overdose cases. This report does not include data on drugs detected, but not contributing or causing death.
For more information, please visit:
https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/medExam/AboutMedExaminer.htm
or contact Kathrin "Rosie" Hobron at Kathrin.Hobron@vdh.virginia.gov.
Filtering Data
Hovering over a locality, CSB, or region on the map, or over a data point on a graph will highlight exact data values. Select a locality, CSB, or region using the dropdown menu to filter the data to that location. Don't want to see everything? Use filters to select data from certain years and demographic subgroups.
Downloading Data
The download button at the bottom right of each dashboard allows you to download a PDF or image of the current dashboard view. At the top of each tab, you will also see an information icon. Hover over the icon to read more about the data sources and links to access the raw data, if available.
Data Considerations
Data suppression criteria follows the criteria provided by the data source. Suppression criteria may vary across data sources and is used to maintain confidentiality.
Many data tabs include the option to view data as a count and as a rate. Count data is useful in looking at the total quantity of an event but may be influenced by the size of the underlying population. A rate means that the data was standardized to a common denominator and can be compared across geographic or demographic groups.