As D.C. records its highest numbers of fatal overdoses, advocates are pushing leaders to invest in holistic harm reduction.

While none of the 29 reported overdoses were fatal, the spike is another concerning turn in the region’s ongoing opioid crisis.

One D.C. official referred to the deaths as a “mass casualty event,.”

Fatal opioid overdoses surged in 2020. Now, this year is projected to be even deadlier than the last.

Darrell Marcellus Pope, a program support specialist at DCRA, is accused of supplying fentanyl to a network of drug dealers based in Woodbridge, Virginia.