This post originally appeared at https://wisconsindailystar.com/news/wisconsin-congressman-bryan-steil-hosts-roundtable-on-combatting-the-scourge-of-fentanyl/mkittle/2023/08/19/

As the scourge of fentanyl continues to rack up victims across the nation, U.S. Representative Bryan Steil (R-WI-01) was joined on Thursday by local and national law enforcement officials in Milwaukee County for a roundtable discussion on combatting the deadly drug.

The event, held in the suburban Milwaukee community of Franklin, included officials from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and North Central High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA),  state legislative leaders, and medical experts. They were there to discuss ways local communities and the federal government can protect communities in Wisconsin from illicit fentanyl.

“I am committed to supporting our law enforcement who are on the front lines fighting fentanyl,” Steil said. “I will continue to work with local, state, and federal leaders to keep our communities safe from this dangerous drug.”

In 2022, Milwaukee County alone posted more than 600 overdose deaths tied to fentanyl. Statewide, 1,358 people died from overdoses or poisonings, a 60 percent-plus increase from five years earlier, according to the state Department of Health Services. DHS says synthetic opioids, particularly fentanyl, were responsible for 91 percent of opioid deaths.

“Pharmacists are among the most accessible public sources of opioid overdose information and resources to communities across Wisconsin, said Cody Wenthur, professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Pharmacy and roundtable member. “Our research team has engaged pharmacy networks to help pharmacists save more lives by implementing scientifically-driven approaches that could lower overdose deaths and reduce misuse of opioids, including fentanyl-associated compounds.”

Recently, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has advised the public of an alarming trend of fentanyl mixed with xylazine. Xylazine is a powerful sedative that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved for veterinary use. The DEA reported that in 2022 approximately 23 percent of fentanyl powder seized by the DEA contained xylazine.

Nobody knows the pain of this deadly drug more than Lauri Badura. The Oconomowoc mom lost her 19-year-old son Archie to an accidental drug overdose in 2014. Archie didn’t know the drug he was taking was laced with fentanyl.

Badura and her family started Saving Others for Archie in memory of the fentanyl victim. Their efforts have reached countless people through ad campaigns on “the new ‘F’ word” and other initiatives, including a promotional campaign at a recent baseball game that taught a record number of people — more than 3,000 — how to save a life in a drug overdose.

Badura has been invited to be part of a roundtable of her own, the upcoming International Overdose Day Roundtable Day at the White House. President Joe Biden will be present.

Badura said she’ll have some points to make that will “catch his attention.” The Biden administration has presided over a flood of illegal immigrants pouring into the U.S. Southwest border. Biden’s open border policies have also welcomed an explosion in human and drug trafficking, bringing with it record-breaking numbers of deadly fentanyl-spiked drugs.

“We’re losing 300 Americans a day, and I just don’t know where the outrage is,” Badura told The Wisconsin Daily Star this week on the Vicki McKenna Show. “It breaks my heart. I don’t want other families to live the weight we have. It’s so awful to lose a loved one. I’m sad and I’m not going to stop fighting.”

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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Brian Steil “by Brian Steil.

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