Pubdate: Wed, 28 Dec 2016
Source: Post-Crescent, The (Appleton,  WI)
Copyright: 2016 The Post-Crescent
Contact:  http://www.postcrescent.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1443
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?132 (Heroin Overdose)
Author: Crocker Stephenson, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

HEROIN SUSPECTED IN 20 DEATHS IN 2 WEEKS

Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County
since July 27.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office says this is a photo of a
typical drug-overdose death scene.(Photo: Milwaukee County Medical
Examiner's Office, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner 's Office)

Twenty people have died of probable heroin overdoses in Milwaukee County
during the past two weeks, a toll the county medical examiner's office on
Thursday called "unprecedented."

The county typically averages one heroin death every three days, the
office said. The medical examiner is investigating the possibility that
other drugs, such as fentanyl, played a role in the deaths.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opiate similar to morphine, but it can be 40 to 50
times more powerful than street heroin. It is particularly deadly when
mixed with other drugs.

Graphic: Milwaukee County fentanyl deaths

As of July 1st, 39 people died in Milwaukee County from fentanyl-related
overdoses, nine more fentanyl deaths than during all of 2015 -- which was
itself a record.

Heroin-related deaths also continue to rise, according to the medical
examiner's office. There have been 61 deaths so far this year, compared
with 110 in 2015.

The total number of drug-related deaths so far this year is 143, compared
with a record 255 deaths in 2015.

"We tend to overuse words such as 'unprecedented' and 'horrific,' but the
death and destruction connected to heroin and opioids is indeed
unprecedented and horrific," Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the
federal Drug Enforcement Administration, said earlier this summer.

"The problem is enormous and growing, and all of our citizens need to wake
up to these facts," he said.

According to medical examiner's reports, Milwaukee County's latest spike
in drug deaths began July 27, around 8 a.m., when the body of a
48-year-old Illinois man was found seated upright on a couch of a friend's
house in Brown Deer.

A few hours later, the body of a 60-year-old man was found in the bedroom
of his Milwaukee home.

In the days that followed, the body of a 27-year-old woman would be found
in a south side alley; the body of a 61-year-old man would be found seated
in his living room with a plate of food on his lap; a 35-year-old woman
would be found by her daughter on a bed cluttered with drug paraphernalia.

Three people died on Aug. 6 alone: the body of a 37-year-old man was found
in a gas station bathroom around 1 p.m.; the body of a 46-year-old
homeless man was found seated in a chair at a transitional living center
around 3 p.m.; and around 7 p.m., a 48-year-old man who struggled with
back pain died at a hospital, where he tested positive for methadone,
amphetamines and Oxycodone.

All the deaths since July 27 remain under investigation.
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