Rosenberg said the devastation caused by opioid addiction has not been understated.

“We sometimes use words like ‘epidemic’ or ‘unprecedented’ or ‘historic’ in ways that are really not accurate,” he said. “This is unprecedented. This is an epidemic.”

In 2015, 33,091 people died of opioid overdoses in the U.S. Gov. Terry McAuliffe signed legislation last week intended to address the epidemic, noting that Virginia’s overdose deaths for 2016 are expected to surpass 1,000.

In the first nine months of last year, 822 overdose deaths occurred in Virginia, an increase from 811 the year before. The rise in deaths from opioids has unfolded locally as it has nationally and across the state.

In Henrico, opioid overdose deaths rose from 24 in 2013 to 37 in 2015. There were 36 such deaths in the first nine months of last year, according to the county.

The number of nonfatal overdoses also climbed, rising from 52 in 2014 to 145 last year.

A proposed budget from the county that will be made public in mid-March includes upward of $200,000 for a task force created to address the epidemic.

Comey lauded the county for its attention to the crisis.