Pubdate: Sat, 22 Jun 2013
Source: Sheboygan Press (WI)
Copyright: 2013 Sheboygan Press
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/h7Qo8HTr
Website: http://sheboyganpress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/3993
Author: Paul Srubas

LAWMAKERS TREAD CAUTIOUSLY TOWARD SOLUTION TO HEROIN PROBLEM

Dave Fraser was so fed up seeing the rampant use of hard drugs by his 
friends and acquaintances in Sheboygan that he packed up his things, 
including a flower shop business, and moved to Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

Last week, he said, one of his buddies died of a heroin overdose in 
Menominee, Mich.

"It's just as bad here, heroin, people crushing pills and snorting or 
injecting," Fraser said. "I guess I don't know what to do. This last 
week, I've been reaching out to anybody who'll listen."

Fraser thinks special legislation is needed to combat the heroin 
problem, which the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team 
examined in a special report last Sunday and Monday.

Responding to the stories, a handful of Wisconsin lawmakers agreed 
that some legislation probably is needed to address the issue. But 
they want to move cautiously.

"It's tough to say there needs to be a government solution to every 
problem, and it's certainly already illegal," Rep. Andre Jacque, R-De 
Pere, said. Still, "I think there's a pretty broad desire to address 
the problem. We're trying to find the best way to do that, and I 
don't think we've got our arms around it yet."

The Gannett Wisconsin Media stories demonstrated the increase of 
heroin addiction statewide. "Deadly Doses" revealed heroin overdose 
deaths rose 50 percent in Wisconsin last year to at least 199 as the 
drug spread from the inner city to suburbs and rural areas.

The stories showed heroin-related arrests and drug seizures have 
surged in recent years, and that an anti-overdose drug helped save 
thousands of users from potentially fatal overdoses in 2012 alone.

In response to the reporting, the Sheboygan-based Acuity insurance 
firm announced Tuesday it will contribute $100,000 to support efforts 
in the Sheboygan County area to tackle the heroin problem.

Sen. Robert Cowles, R-Allouez, and Jacque have been working on a 
program included in the budget passed last week by the Assembly and 
Senate that would set up a six-member task force in each of the 
state's 72 counties to hash out ideas to combat heroin and other 
drugs. The plan also calls for a $20 surcharge to be added to each 
criminal conviction in the state, to help pay for existing drug 
prevention programs.

Heroin addiction is an issue particularly close to the heart for Rep. 
John Nygren, R-Marinette. His county led the state from 2008 to 2012 
in per capita seizures of heroin by police. And more directly, Nygren 
said his daughter has a heroin addiction and is serving prison time.

"When she first told me about it, I always felt heroin was for losers 
living in the dark alleys, the homeless," Nygren said. "A lot of the 
girls who use - and a lot of them are girls - are pretty girls, good 
students. This is not the addiction of the 1960s and 1970s that we thought."

But even Nygren sees a need for legislators to proceed with caution.

The biennial budget, awaiting Gov. Scott Walker's signature, contains 
$2.5 million to pay for drug treatment alternatives, which is a 150 
percent increase in such spending from the current budget.

"A 150 percent increase is, well, not being cheap. But if it's found 
to be widespread effective, it'll probably need to be five times 
that," Nygren said.

The state budget also puts $1 million toward establishing drug courts 
in some of the state's smaller and rural counties, he said. "We think 
drug courts have been successful."

Democrats are no more eager than Republicans to charge ahead at 
heroin without getting a better understanding of the problem, said 
Penny Bernard Schaber, D-Appleton. It's clear that just jailing 
addicts isn't doing the job and that the focus needs to be elsewhere, 
but even effective solutions can come with their own set of new 
problems, she said.

"It's difficult addressing these social issues in the Legislature," 
Bernard Schaber said. "Right now, we need to be getting information 
and talking to everybody on the ground, the people with addictions, 
law enforcement."

The heroin problem itself, in a way, is a by-product of legislative 
action, Bernard Schaber said.

"We tried to address prescription drug concerns, and we did create 
and implement a prescription drug monitoring system, so if a person 
is going from store to store or doctor to doctor to get drugs, we're 
able to track that," she said.

However, plugging the path to easy, illicit prescription drugs drove 
opiate addicts to find another way to get their highs, and many 
turned to heroin, the Gannett Wisconsin Media Investigative Team found.

Legislators are talking about the problem, and there almost certainly 
will be initiatives forthcoming, Bernard Schaber said.

"We want to make sure the money we're spending up front saves money 
in the long run," she said. "It's horrible to lose these young people 
that could have been productive their whole lives, and it might have 
to be community-based treatment programs. There has to be a way to 
prevent these overdoses."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom