Loudoun County high school student survives suspected overdose; sheriff’s office investigating

STERLING, Va. - A Loudoun County high school student survived a suspected overdose that happened just five days into the new year.

The sheriff’s office says they are investigating the incident that was reported late in the evening on the night of January 5 and involved a Park View High School student.

The suspected overdose occurred in Sterling, but not at the high school and not during school hours, officials said.

This would be the first juvenile overdose of 2024 in Loudoun County if confirmed. In 2023, the sheriff’s office said 22 non-fatal juvenile overdoses were reported. Two juveniles died from overdoses in Loudoun County in 2022. Most of the county’s juvenile overdoses are fentanyl related, they said.

"The abuse of opioids is a local, state and national crisis, and we are grappling with how best to navigate it as a school division and community," Loudoun County Public School officials said in a message to the school community. Naloxone, a medication that rapidly reverses opioid overdoses, is available at every LCPS school.

School officials said they are hosting in-person opportunities to learn more about the dangers of fentanyl and other opioids:

• Thursday, Jan. 18, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Historic Douglass High School (407 East Market Street, Leesburg)
• Saturday, Jan. 27, during the United for Wellness Conference and Resource Fair at Riverside High School (19019 Upper Belmont Place, Leesburg)
• Thursday, Feb. 15, from 7 to 9 p.m. at Woodgrove High School (36811 Allder School Rd., Purcellville)