SHEBOYGAN, WI (WHBL) - Later this month several Sheboygan County entities will begin pushing a local effort in connection to the state’s Dose of Reality campaign, intended to bring added attention to a growing heroin and prescription drug addiction problem.
Statistics show that the problem is growing in Wisconsin and the nation, that according to Dr. John Olsen, a psychiatrist at Prevea Behavior Care in Sheboygan who specializes in addiction. “As a whole, consumption patterns of illicit drugs in Wisconsin mirror national trends, both nationally and in Wisconsin. Wisconsin’s rate of drug related deaths nearly doubled from 2002 to 2010, with opioid related overdoses the most frequent cause.”
Compared to the rest of the country, Wisconsin's increase is not as high as other parts of the nation. Olsen cited a CDC study that shows the Midwest had an increase in heroin overdose deaths by 91 percent between 2009 and 2012. That same time period had an increase of 200-percent in the Northeast.
Looking to just Wisconsin, the increase within the state borders is significant. “From 2010 to 2013 the number of heroin overdose deaths submitted to the State Crime Lab doubled," says Olsen. "There were only 29 deaths on average annually from 2000 to 2007, and the numbers increased to 93 in 2010 to 199 in 2012 to 227 in 2013, a 10-percent increase over the previous year.”
Olsen broke down the numbers more, and suggests they may not tell the whole story. “Heroin’s footprint is spreading in Wisconsin, with 39 of the state’s 72 counties reporting a heroin related death in 2013. I suspect there may be a problem with under reporting as well from those labs as no deaths were reported here in six of the years between 2005 and 2012, and only three deaths in the county in 2013. Pain pill related deaths per capita show also low compared to the rest of the state in the last five years. I think that also may be a reflection of under reporting."
Olsen says part of the problem could be how officials end up declaring how a person dies. "County coroners say deaths records likely underestimate the number of overdose deaths. Autopsies are not down if no foul play is suspected. Heroin breaks down quickly in the body and may not be identified as a cause of death in some cases.”
Looking at Sheboygan County alone, Olsen says statistics show how bad of a problem opioid related incidents are in our area. “Opioid related hospitalizations were comparable between Sheboygan and the rest of the state, growing from about 100 per 100-thousand in 2005 to 150 per 100-thousand in 2013. The City of Sheboygan Fire Department has seen an increased use of Narcan from 33 uses in 2009 to 84 in 2013.”
Olsen was a recent guest on WHBL's "A Closer Look" program that focused on heroin overdoses and how to detox a person from an addiction. Click on the link below to listen or watch the program.