In other difficult news,
opioid overdose deaths are reaching all-time highs,
with Fentanyl remaining the leading cause.
But in a hopeful trend, harm reduction interventions
have meant deaths have not doubled,
as was feared without such efforts.
Zac Schultz has more.
>> Narrator: Fire Station 31 in South Milwaukee
isn't used to respond
to fire calls anymore, but the firefighters inside
are still dealing with emergencies.
Captain Dave Polachowski says this cabinet is where
they store the HOPE Kits they distribute to opioid users.
>> We have a few things inside here.
Most importantly for harm reduction
we have Narcan inside of here.
>> Narrator: Polachowski runs the MORI program
the Milwaukee Overdose Reduction Initiative.
They follow up every drug overdose call
and attempt to provide help, but lately
many overdoses have been fatal.
On April 4th
the fire department called a press conference to
announce there have been 17 fatal ODs in just three days.
But that was just the beginning.
>> That was a rough couple days.
A lot of fatal overdoses.
Like we said, the 17, which I think one of
the oldest one being like 83 years old
which is really unheard of.
Right after that, I think,
I believe we had another 17 within
I think four to five days after that.
So you had over 30 in about a week period
which is just a horrific number for, you know,
a city our size.
>> Narrator: Polachowski says there were more
than 640 fatal overdoses last year
and the number would've been higher
if it weren't for the harm reduction measures
like free Narcan and Fentanyl testing strips.
>> Otherwise, I'm sure we would be well over a thousand here
in the county.
But that was a, that was a kick in a stomach.
With all that we're doing,
when you see something like that happen
in such a short time, it's like, ah, you know,
what are we doing here?
>> What should we be doing differently?
I mean, there's an increase
in the amount of assistance that's out there,
there's the testing strips, there's the Narcan,
there's programs like this
and yet we're still seeing this, this traumatic increase.
>> Yeah. I don't know
if I have an answer to that, to be honest.
It's shocking, right?
>> Narrator: Ryan Gorman is an addiction counselor
for community medical services.
He says the people in the drug using community
don't need a press conference to understand
what's happening.
>> They're aware of it, I think in a much more real sense
than the rest of us are experiencing it.
>> Narrator: Gorman says drugs are being cut
with other substances to increase their narcotic effect.
>> The supply is tainted and it's not getting better.
The prevalence of actual heroin
is almost nonexistent from what we see.
Urinalysis and just word on the street.
It just doesn't exist anymore.
So the presence of fentanyl
and then fentanyl being adulterated
with even more complicating substances
being added to that
I think that's the, that's what's responsible
for the sharp increase in overdoses.
>> Narrator: The latest ingredient being added
to drugs is xylazine,
most commonly used as an animal tranquilizer.
But since it's not an opioid
Narcan won't reverse its effects.
>> I think it's very serious
and a part that's really scary about it
is the fact that an Narcan doesn't work on it.
>> Narrator: But Gorman doesn't want people to lose focus
about what's causing the fatalities.
>> And I really want to be explicit about it.
It doesn't present the same degree of danger
as fentanyl.
Fentanyl is still the thing that's killing people in mass,
right?
It is a very, very dangerous drug.
>> Narrator: As the opioid epidemic grows
the way we handle the impact has to change as well.
For Captain Polachowski, that means going
to the user and offering them ways to be safer.
>> People call it enabling.
We don't look at it like that.
We say it's enabling you to stay alive
until you are willing to get treatment.
So while some people look
at having Narcan out in the community
is you're just allowing people to use more drugs.
Well, if the Narcan isn't there
they're gonna potentially die
and never get the help that they need.
>> Narrator: For Ryan Gorman, that means opening
up this new medication assisted treatment center
in Pewaukee where the waiting room contains a table
for kids who are there with a parent.
>> The vast majority of our patients are gainfully employed,
family, lots of homeowners, renters, yeah.
They're not the person that most people picture.
>> How much of the social view of drug use and how to
do harm reduction has changed as drug use has moved
out of certain populations and are already stigmatized?
>> Yes.
>> And become more known in suburbs,
in wealthier areas among people who have more privilege.
>> Well, you know what, it's funny I mentioned that before.
I've been everywhere in the county in some areas where
you just say, ah, you know what doesn't happen over,
it absolutely happens there.
>> I think people attribute the rise in overdoses
in the suburbs to there suddenly being opioids here,
and that's not my experience.
Right?
I grew up in the suburbs and they're always,
they've always been there.
They're just more dangerous.
>> Narrator: Reporting from Milwaukee,
I'm Zac Schultz for "Here & Now".