County Overdose Deaths Up 50% in 2020
Medical Examiner warns current pace would result in 640 deaths in 2020.
Fentanyl pills. Photo from the DEA.
Milwaukee County is on pace to smash a record it doesn’t want to break. The number of deaths from drug overdoses could exceed the previous high by over 50 percent.
The county is on track to record 640 deaths from drug overdoses in 2020 said the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner‘s Office this week, exceeding the previous record of 407 recorded in 2019.
The 640 death estimate is up from an estimate of 500 deaths in February.
And that estimate is based on just this year’s surge, said Karen Domagalski, operations manager at the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office. “This has just been 2020.”
Another steadily increasing trend is overdose deaths from cocaine alone or in combination with other drugs. This trend began in 2017. Prior to that year, there were on average less than 100 cocaine overdoses in the county.
Then, starting in 2017, “those numbers started to escalate,” said Domagalski. In 2018, there were 185 deaths from cocaine use alone or with other drugs, then in 2019 the death toll was 180.
Domagalski said the office is very busy right now because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but that doesn’t mean they’re getting a reprieve from everything else. “Nothing else is really slowing down,” said Domagalski. Deaths from car crashes, homicides and overdoses continue unabated.
The Medical Examiner’s office has divided the staff into three teams to limit potential exposure to COVID-19. Out of caution, Domagalski said they are treating the illness as infectious even in death.
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More about the Opioid Crisis
- Wisconsin Drug Take Back Collection #2 in the Country; Collects Over 60,000 lbs. of Unwanted Medications to Fight the Opioid Epidemic - Josh Kaul - May 5th, 2021
- Baldwin Challenges Opioid Companies ‘Abusive’ Tax Deductions - Isiah Holmes - Apr 18th, 2021
- Overdoses Surge and Heroin, Opioid Cocaine Task Force Doesn’t Meet - Edgar Mendez - Apr 15th, 2021
- AG Kaul Highlights Need for Crime Lab Toxicology Positions, Technology to Address Evolving Drug Epidemic - Josh Kaul - Mar 10th, 2021
- A Medication Rescue for Opioid Overdoses - Corri Hess - Feb 22nd, 2021
- State Receives $10 million in Opioid Crisis Settlement - Jenny Peek - Feb 5th, 2021
- AG Kaul, Gov Evers Announce $573 Million Multistate Agreement with McKinsey & Company for “Turbocharging” the Opioid Epidemic with Purdue Pharma - Josh Kaul - Feb 4th, 2021
- Gov. Evers, DHS Announce Nearly $9 Million Awarded for Drug Treatment Services - Gov. Tony Evers - Jan 14th, 2021
- AG Kaul, Bipartisan AGs Push FDA to Examine Progress in Opioid Fight - Josh Kaul - Jan 11th, 2021
- Milwaukee County Surpasses Last Year’s Record Overdose Deaths - Edgar Mendez - Nov 27th, 2020
Read more about Opioid Crisis here
Would really appreciate you giving accurate information rather than “projections”. Its that real vs.unreal thing; information vs. misinformation. The opioid crisis is bad enough without making up stuff. History will tell if the medical examiner’s projection is accurate. But until then, we need facts, not guesses.
Here are the most recent statistics of Drug-Related deaths in 2019 published by Dr. Brian Peterson on March 10, 2020.
Note the total Drug-Related Deaths in 2019 is 417 rather than the 407 number mentioned in the story above. (see images of Dr. Peterson’s latest spreadsheet below)
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoGhDn8qu6nxlRSWYKyN25RzkH-d?e=iVY47g
https://1drv.ms/u/s!AoGhDn8qu6nxlRNTPmZHkClpW68Y?e=LLTmWJ
It is critical that we look at these deaths in light of the ongoing War On Drugs.
Here are some Face Book posts that further explain the relationship of the War On Drugs to the Opioid Epidemic.
https://www.facebook.com/paul.mozina/posts/1992570487553732
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MilwaukeeACLUChapter/permalink/10157553603396154/
https://www.facebook.com/paul.mozina/posts/2006697156141065
The Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission was doing great work under the leadership of Dr. Mallory O’Brien analyzing homicides and documented the following:
Drug-Related Homicides
13 (15.1%) in 2014
25 (17.2%) in 2015
15 (10.8%) in 2016
Drug-related shootings
60 (10.3%) in 2014
68 (10.7%) in 2015
36 (6.4) in 2016
Here are the report from which the above numbers were pulled.
2014 https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cityHRC/reports/2014AnnualReportV.2.5.pdf
2015 https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/cityHRC/reports/2015AnnualReportFINAL.pdf
2016 https://www.wpr.org/sites/default/files/2016%20MHRC%20Annual%20Report%209-29-2017%20FINAL.pdf
Constance Kostelac, PhD Assistant Professor Institute for Health & Equity Division of Epidemiology Medical College of Wisconsin, Is the new leader of the resurrected Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission and she was tentatively scheduled to present their latest findings at the next Milwaukee Community Justice Council’s Community Meeting of the Whole. I hope they are able to proceed with a virtual version of this meeting.
https://www.milwaukee.gov/EN/MCJC/Committees/Executive-Committee/Community-Meeting-of-the-Whole