(Juneau) Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt says fentanyl is a major issue that needs addressing.
“It is tragic the amount of people that are dying from fentanyl,” says Schmidt. He says fentanyl is added to a number of different drugs including heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine, even marijuana. The sheriff notes that dealers put fentanyl in their product because it is one of the most addictive drugs out there.
Schmidt says law enforcement is struggling to stop the pipeline of drugs that are coming into the Badger State.
“There’s no way for me to turn the spigot off to get these people to stop coming in with these substances…so we do everything we can to go after those dealers and hold the dealers accountable…do everything we can to provide treatment options,” says Schmidt. “I even provide Narcan to individuals in my jail when they leave if they’re interested. There are so many things that we’re trying to do but we’re drinking through a firehose.”
According to the Wisconsin Department of Public Health, the number of fentanyl overdose deaths grew by 97-percent from 2019 with 651 to 1,280 in 2021. They add that cocaine deaths involving synthetic opioids increased by 134-percent between 2019 and 2021. It is estimated that as many as 40-percent of counterfeit pills contain enough fentanyl to be lethal.
