Eddie Trejo was in and out of rehab homes for 13 years, but has now been sober for two months after moving into God Touch Milwaukee, a faith based group restoration home on the South Side.
“This report shows that the opioid crisis in Milwaukee County continues to worsen,” is the first sentence of a new report released by an organization whose sole purpose is to investigate the opioid epidemic across Milwaukee.
Even after the declaration of a nationwide public health emergency and the creation of a new task force designed to reduce the number of opioid related deaths here in Milwaukee, the opioid crisis is ever-present right here in our own backyard.
The report, released by the Community Opioid Prevention Effort (COPE) last week, found that opioid related deaths more than doubled in Milwaukee from 2012 to 2017. The report also estimates that in 2017, for every death, there were approximately five people in Milwaukee who experienced an overdose, but survived. This comes after a 2015 report found a 495% increase in heroin related deaths in across Milwaukee County.
“I hope we never get to the place that this many people dying is common anymore,” said Ald. Mike Murphy, co-chair of the City-County Heroin Opioid and Cocaine Task Force. Murphy also helped create COPE. “People are somewhat numb by the devastation and news reports, but more people died nationally from opioid deaths in 2016 than the whole Vietnam War... it puts things into perspective.”
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The City-County Heroin Opioid and Cocaine Task Force was created in 2017 to slow the rising number of opioid-related deaths and overdoses across Milwaukee. Efforts include strengthening treatment for those who suffer from addiction, and providing training for Narcan, a medication that helps block the effects of opioids. “We should be doing all we can to prevent people from going down this path of addiction,” Murphy said.
Location of EMS responses for suspected opioid-related overdoses, 2017 (COPE)
The report found that there were 337 opioid-related deaths in 2017, and 1,873 reported opioid overdoses. The rate of opioid overdose deaths in Milwaukee County is more than double the rate for the state of Wisconsin. However, the report also found a 32% increase from 2016 in individuals who sought treatment for substance abuse. Marty Calderon, a Milwaukee citizen who helped start a community group focusing on ending the opioid epidemic in Milwaukee called MKE Heroin Diaries, said it’s worse now than ever before.
“I think the thing is how bad it’s gotten, now that it’s just everywhere, from the suburbs, to the inner-city, and it’s hitting different age groups,” said Calderon, who is now the executive director at a faith-based group restoration home for men who have dealt with addiction called God Touch Milwaukee. “I’ve never seen it as bad as it is.”
However, Calderon’s group home is filled with men who have started to turn their lives around. One of these men is Eddie Trejo, who has spent 13 years in and out of rehab. When Trejo first moved to Milwaukee, he spent three months “strung-out” in a garage, but he has since moved into the group home with Calderon. He has been sober for two months now after finding help and faith in the home. He did pills and heroin, or as he puts it, “whatever it takes to get loaded.”“There’s a loss of hope,” said Trejo. “[Drugs are] so easy to get now…it’s like candy in the store and it’s sad.”
Even so, Trejo believes things can get better in Milwaukee. Murphy and Calderon are also pushing for change. Murphy said we need to reach children at a young age to educate them about the negative effects that drugs like opioids can have. He also wants to make Narcan more available to emergency responders. Calderon believes there should be more treatment centers that offer services beyond 90 days. “We need a lot of prayer,” he said.
