Governor Directs Virginia Agencies to Participate in Virginia’s Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) as Part of Comprehensive Plan to Fight Virginia’s Fentanyl Crisis

Richmond, Virginia, May 10, 2023 – As part of his comprehensive fentanyl-fighting strategy across public safety, prevention, education, and treatment organizations, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin directed government agencies across the Commonwealth to participate in the Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT), a secure data-sharing project led by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) in collaboration with the Office of Data Governance and Analytics (ODGA), and developed in partnership with Voyatek.

Launched in 2018, FAACT is a single platform that combines previously siloed data from a growing number of state and local organizations to generate actionable insights critical to prevention, early intervention, treatment, and recovery. For example:

• Critical data about overdose hot spots enabled Virginia Overdose Prevention Resource Collaborative (VOPRC) to optimize the location of Narcan distribution centers and allowed a community in South-Western Virginia to pilot a Narcan Vending machine to increase the Narcan distribution footprint.
• One agency participating in FAACT found that 50% of all EMS incidents involving opioids were initially diagnosed as mental or behavioral disorders instead of opioid-related incidents. This is seminal for targeted training for first responders, who can save lives by administering Narcan (naloxone) early.
• FAACT also identified an unexpected spike in a certain veterinary medicine (Xylazine) being mixed with opioids. A provider alert was quickly issued by the Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services (Virginia Medicaid) so that front-line providers could be on the lookout when treating patients. By coordinating with local opioid coalitions, Virginia was able to get a head start on addressing Xylazine usage before national alerts from CDC and FDA were released.

FAACT laid the groundwork for the Virginia Analysis System for Trafficking (VAST), also developed in collaboration with Voyatek. The platform provides insights into who is falling victim to trafficking, who’s perpetrating the crime, where it’s taking place, which external factors contribute to its incidence and whether it’s increasing or decreasing. With VAST, organizations across Virginia are better equipped to aid victims, prosecute criminals, and prevent trafficking.

The directive was included in Executive Order 26, which states that participation in FAACT will help “create the most cohesive and timely data on fatal and non-fatal overdoses in the Commonwealth to allow for immediate interdiction, education, and abatement efforts in the neighborhoods where spikes in overdoses are observed.”