Politics & Government
Fentanyl Overdose Deaths Continue To Spike In Milwaukee County
So far this year, 30 people have from use of the powerful synthetic opiate. In 2016, there were 97 fentanyl-related deaths.
MILWAUKEE COUNTY, MI — So far this year, 30 people in Milwaukee County have died after overdosing on the synthetic opiate fentanyl, health officials said Tuesday. If the trend continues, 2017 could shape up as the deadliest year so far for the powerful drug.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, which in 2015 issued a nationwide alert about the uptick in fentanyl deaths, said the drug is 50 times more powerful than heroin and 100 times more powerful than morphine.
In 2016, Milwaukee County reported 97 deaths attributed to fentanyl. On Twitter, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office said 2016 fentanyl deaths increased 223 percent from 2015.
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97 deaths in Milwaukee County in 2016 from fentanyl - an increase of 223 percent from 2015. https://t.co/6lSOCJABUP
— Medical Examiner (@mkemedexamine) March 21, 2017
In 2012, there were only five fentanyl related deaths, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
In its alert, the DEA said fentanyl is the most powerful opiate available for medical treatment in hospitals, but it’s often mixed with heroin on the street. Its euphoric effects are indistinguishable from heroin, and users often don’t know they’re buying a potentially deadly cocktail of heroin laced with fentanyl from labs in Mexico, Germany, Japan and China.
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Overall, Milwaukee County reported 343 drug-related deaths in 2016, nearly half of them — 150 — related to heroin, according to the report.
Milwaukee Common Council President Michael Murphy told members of the Public Safety Committee that opiate addiction is too often seen as a law enforcement issue, but “is really a public health issue,” the Journal Sentinel reported.
Photo by Partha S. Sahana via Flickr Commons
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