Evers Signs Bill Legalizing Fentanyl Test Strips
Milwaukee legislators led charge to legalize them as a way to save lives.
Governor Tony Evers signed legislation Wednesday decriminalizing possession of Fentanyl testing strips.
Until now, these strips or testing kits were considered drug paraphernalia. The drug Fentanyl is currently the leading cause of overdose deaths in the county. It was present in 79% of the 560 overdose deaths in 2021.
Mike Lappen, administrator for BHD, noting the irony that this potentially lifesaving tool has until today been illegal, told a committee of the county board Wednesday afternoon, “I’ve been risking myself significantly by having a case of them in my office for a couple of days, waiting to distribute them.”
Shortly after the governor signed the legislation, the county released a statement saying that it had 1,600 testing strips that would be distributed throughout the community. This is a preliminary batch, Lappen told supervisors, “Relatively soon the state will be supplying us with a more significant supply.”
State Representative Sylvia Ortiz-Velez, who is also finishing her last term on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors, was one of the policymakers who led the charge for decriminalization of these testing strips at the local and state level, and authored the legislation for the Assembly, along with State Sen. Lena Taylor who authored the senate bill.
“The testing strips will be a valuable tool to help prevent death from overdose,” said DHHS Director Shakita LaGrant-McClain. “I applaud the work of Supervisor Ortiz-Velez to make these strips available and easily accessible to the community.”
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley in a statement also thanked the “champions in the State Assembly and State Senate who fought to legalize fentanyl testing strips.”
“It’s going to take all of us working together to prevent overdoses and make sure that people know there are local resources available to help them,” he said. “I look forward to working with our partners to quickly get these strips into the hands of community members and emergency personnel who need them most.”
Lappen said the county is also working to more widely distribute Narcan, the name brand for the drug Naloxone. It’s an emergency medicine that reverses the effects of an opioid overdose.
These types of immediate interventions work in concert with the string of community-based resources, like clinics, residential facilities and mobile crisis teams in the county.
“The longer we keep someone alive, the more opportunities we have to engage them in treatment and recovery,” Lappen said.
More about the Opioid Crisis
- Milwaukee’s Native Community Faces Surge in Opioid Deaths - Trisha Young - Jul 8th, 2024
- MKE County: County Awards $2.8 Million To Non-Profit Opioid Programs - Graham Kilmer - Jul 2nd, 2024
- MKE County: County To Get $3 Million From Kroger In Opioid Settlement - Graham Kilmer - Jul 1st, 2024
- Court Decision Holds Up Wisconsin’s $70 Million Drug Settlement - Sarah Lehr - Jul 1st, 2024
- MKE County: Opioid Settlement Will Fund 7 New, Expanded Abatement Efforts - Graham Kilmer - Jun 28th, 2024
- Legislators Agree on Opioid Plan, Still Withhold PFAS, Hospital Funds - Erik Gunn - May 8th, 2024
- Baldwin Announces Over $17.7 Million to Tackle Fentanyl and Opioid Crisis in Wisconsin - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin - May 7th, 2024
- Baldwin Backed Legislation to Crack Down on Fentanyl Traffickers Heads to President’s Desk - U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin - Apr 24th, 2024
- Legislature Stalls Opioid Settlement Funds. Again - Erik Gunn - Apr 23rd, 2024
- Milwaukee Bucks Legend Marques Johnson Joins Forces with Serenity Inns to Combat Opioid Epidemic in Milwaukee - Serenity Inns - Apr 23rd, 2024
Read more about Opioid Crisis here
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