The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that for the first time in 6 years, Milwaukee County is seeing a decline in drug overdose deaths. This is lower than the statewide decline, which is at 9.69% this year, with Milwaukee coming in at 4%. But even this modest decline is encouraging for an area that has lost hundreds of lives each year to drugs. The county invested over eight million dollars this fiscal cycle to combat overdoses.
We’re certainly glad Milwaukee and the rest of our state are making progress on this serious and too-often deadly issue. We join county leaders in being optimistic that this signals a true change in the trend of overdose deaths for our state and nation. Hopefully officials realize and promote the message that being in a married dad-and-mom family is the best defense a teen has against drugs.
