With opioid overdoses on the rise in Virginia, the Mathews County Sheriff’s Office has taken steps to make sure every officer is equipped with and trained to use a kit containing naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.

Not only that, but the sheriff’s office has also made sure that all Virginia Marine Resources Commission officers in the Middle Region are equipped and trained, as well.

Investigator April Edwards of the sheriff’s office said that there were 1,227 opioid overdoses statewide last year, a 7.8 percent increase from 2016, when incidents had also increased from the previous year, following a trend that has shown steady increases in opioid deaths since 2012.

Last September, Edwards applied for and was awarded a grant from Kaléo, a privately-held pharmaceutical company in Richmond, for 20 Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services REVIVE! kits, each of which contains an injector contain...