What’s Killing Our Kids? Overdoses Rise in Waukesha County

If tears could build a stairway, and memories a lane...I'd walk right up to heaven, and bring you home again.  Old bench, Muskego Cemetery

Their names are at the Waukesha County Medical Examiner's Office, and right next to them, the manner of death:  Four young people, between the ages of 19 and 24, have died of drug overdoses in Muskego in the last three years. Two of those have died in the last three months, right here in Muskego, between April 4th and July 12, 2011.

The next death has already occurred, this time in Brookfield.  Just 10 days later, on July 22, a Brookfield couple found their 22-year-old son dead in his room from a suspected drug overdose, according to

These are not deliberate deaths.  The County lists the manner of death in the Muskego cases as “Accident;” the cause of death as drug intoxication.  Their number is growing, said Captain Chuck Wood of the Waukesha County Drug Enforcement Unit. 

This year, the number of heroin overdoses alone are staggering, based on Wood’s figures:

Waukesha County

2010        29 Overdose deaths from diverted or illegal drugs all year

2011        20 Overdoses from heroin alone in 7 months, Jan 1 - July 26, 2011, not all ending in death

“What’s happening is purely mathematical,” Wood said.  “More people are using.”

Young people are counted among them.  “Heroin users…appear to be getting younger, with the majority being in their 20s,” according to a source quoted in the Brookfield Patch article.

News reports say one way to fight the problem is to talk about it.  The other way is to lock up prescription drugs, keep track of how many pills have been used, and clean out any unused drugs regularly. 

“The problem is that synthetic pills are the gateway,” Wood said. “Fairly young people are getting into oxycodone, vicadin, and suboxone.”  While the drugs are usually ingested as a pill, they can be crushed up and snorted.

“It looks safer to be taking a pill made by Bristol-Myers than to be shooting heroin,” Wood said.  “Without a doctor, they’re equally dangerous.”

Lieutenant David Constantineau of the Muskego Police Department (MPD) confirms the problem already exists in Muskego:  “We are seeing prescription meds in high school,” he said. “Heroin comes out of prescription pain killers. They try it, and get hooked.”

Wood mirrors that advice, using Madison (Maddie) Kiefer’s 2009 death to support evidence that what might seem like harmless pills, simply aren’t.  Wood says Maddie “was taking a bunch of stuff but what finally killed her was the synthetic opiate.”  Maddie was just 15 years old then, according to news reports at the time.

And he explained that when people “think a pill is safer, then they’re drinking and you throw in depressants, the heartbeat slows or ceases and we end up at funerals,” Wood said. 

Often, the road to an overdose starts at home: “Young people clear out the medicine cabinet…they really like the effect of synthetic opiates,” Wood said, but those are very expensive – up to $80 a pill - on the street.  “Someone suggests they do heroin, it’s less expensive,” Wood said.

But when you buy heroin, you can’t tell what dose you’re getting, Wood said. And here is the crux of the problem:  “Users can get something really potent, and if nobody is around they go into a coma,” Wood said. “That’s how fatals occur.”

Heroin at purity levels of 83%:  Knowledge that’s not out there.

An overdose can happen to an “early user” who’s trying heroin for a first or second time.  Or it can happen to a regular user.  “There’s not a heavy or light user,” Wood explains.  “Once you’re addicted you’re just trying to keep (high) at a certain level.” 

Anyone can “get a bad batch,” which Wood describes as heroin at a very pure level.  And that can take anyone “out,” Wood said.

Recent toxicology tests in Racine showed a sample of heroin with a purity many times the usual level, or 83% pure, Wood said.  More common levels are 17 or 18 per cent. “I don’t think that knowledge is out there,” Wood said.

Translated for someone who’s experimenting with heroin for the first time or someone who’s using regularly, that means a dose of at least 4 times what their body has been, or may be, able to tolerate, Wood said.

The impact of heroin is immediate once taken:  While the preferred method for ingesting heroin in Waukesha County is syringes, it can be snorted too, Wood said.  “Pure heroin snorting can be a relatively quick death,” he said.  By inference, that could explain why those who die never see it coming. 

A drug that can save a life - and give users a false sense of security.

There is a drug that can prevent an overdose death, commonly known as Narcan, or Naloxone, Wood said.  Used by emergency rooms and first responders, it reverses the effects of an opiate overdose and is so successful that lists are kept of the number of “saves” or “saved lives” it has generated, Wood said. 

Vital signs can be restored within 5 minutes after the drug is given, according to Waukesha County Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Guidelines from 2009. 

But Narcan can give users a false sense of security, said Constantineau. Addicts believe their intelligence will keep them from overdosing, when in fact, an overdose has more to do with the purity of the drug than a user’s intelligence, he said. 

“Addicts get high in groups, and if somebody goes down, they’ll give them a Narcan. Within a couple of moments, they’re fine, lucid and talking,” Constantineau said.  “We’ve seen instances in Muskego where they revive the overdose victim, who then refuses going to the hospital for treatment.”

It’s important to get those revived to the hospital, said Bill Keeton, Manager of Public relations for the Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARC).  “Narcan immediately takes the person out of overdose and into opiate withdrawal, which is a shock to the system,” Keeton said.  That can cause nausea, headaches and vomiting, he said.

Still, for users, or family members and friends who are more worried and afraid users’ habits could kill them, Narcan is a parachute available through Lifepoint, an outreach program of the ARCW.

Started as a pilot program in Madison in 2006, the resource is now available statewide, said Keeton. In a 20-minute class, the program teaches how to tell if a friend/family member is overdosing, how to administer the drug, and steps to getting medical treatment after rescue, said Keeton.  After training takes place, the drug is provided free of charge and confidentially, and participants remain completely anonymous.

Keeton said that 743 saves have been reported since the program started.  Because the Lifepoint program also distributes safe hypodermic needles within Wisconsin communities, HIV infections caused by injection drug use have dropped 67% since 1994.

“We’re not there to condone or pass judgment,” Keeton says of ARCWs work within the community.  “We’re there to make sure they stay safe from Hepatitis, AIDs, and overdoses.  We have no interest in turning anyone over to the cops,” Keeton said.

Prevention specialists at ARCW can be contacted at (414)225-1608.  They will meet anywhere they are needed, and also have mobile mini-van programs for needle exchanges.  More info is available at the ARCW website by clicking here.

As for Muskego Police, they’re doing their job to prevent - and clean up after – overdoses.  “We continue to prosecute and are holding dealers accountable,” Constantineau said.  “We aggressively investigate and pursue the sources.  And we tell parents to educate their children in the most blunt and brutal of terms:  If they use this, they will die.”

What You Should Know After Reading This Article:

Heroin is in Muskego, and is being used increasingly by young people in their 20’s.

Addiction can start as early as high school with the use of prescription pills among young people.  Clean out or lock your medicine cabinets regularly.

Heroin at high levels of purity – up to 83% - is killing unsuspecting victims.

Narcan is a drug that can save lives by reversing the effects of opiates, and restores breathing and heart rate if given in time.  Call 911 in an emergency.

The Aids Resource Center of Wisconsin will provide Narcan to users age 18 on up and those who care about them.  Call (414)581-6169 or learn more by clicking here. 

NEXT:  The Truth About Muskego Culture:  High School Kids, Drugs and Alcohol