Who’s most at risk of fentanyl overdoses in Wisconsin

(WLUK) — The fentanyl epidemic in Wisconsin continues to be a major problem. A new study shows overdose deaths rose 1,000% from 2015 to 2021.

Fentanyl can be a legitimate prescription treatment for severe pain.

But illicit forms of the drug are being produced and distributed in all types of forms, and a study from the research firm Forward Analytics says the pills are being produced to look like other medications, like OxyContin, Percocet and Adderall.

“If you look at the Drug Enforcement Administration in terms of seized pills in 2022, 60% of them — 60% of the fentanyl laced pills — had lethal doses in them,” said Dale Knapp, director of Forward Analytics.

Knapp says fentanyl is the number one killer of Wisconsin residents ages 25 to 54.

“The odds are pretty good that if you’re taking a pill that has fentanyl, there’s a pretty good chance it’s going to have a lethal dose in it, which is very, very troubling,” said Knapp.

But the age group most affected was 25 to 34.

“The younger demographic, we see a lot more opiates, methamphetamines — versus the older population comes in at a higher percentage of alcohol being their primary substance of abuse,” said Jason Latva, executive director at the Jackie Nitschke Center.

Latva says, in general, they’ve seen more men than women come in for opioid abuse treatment.

“Historically, you would see about 70% males, 30% females,” he explained.

But the numbers started to change last year and get closer, with this year being almost an even split. Still, the study shows more men died from fentanyl overdoses compared to women.

“Specifically looking at the year 2021, 993 of our opioid related deaths were males, which represents 70% of total deaths,” said Paul Krupski, policy director and acting director of Opioid Initiatives for Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services.

Krupski says Native American and Black residents have the highest rates of opioid-related deaths in the state.

“Unfortunately, that’s been a trend now for, I believe, about the last five years,” said Krupski.

The report says the mortality rate among Native American and Black residents was almost three times greater than the rate for white residents in 2021.

“That is why we have really, at the Department of Health Services, we’ve really looked at ways to target those communities specifically,” said Krupski.

He says that includes prevention.

“To really try and target the root cause of what is happening,” said Krupski.

The report does offer hope that statewide deaths may have reached a plateau. CDC figures showed about 1,300 deaths in 2022, which is close to the same number as 2021.