Lake Country This Month

By Katherine Michalets Special to The Freeman DELAFIELD — To illustrate how problematic the heroin addiction problem is in Waukesha County, Delafield Police Officer Dan Bloedow described two brothers who bought heroin and shot up together in their home, resulting in one brother dying from an overdose while his mother and brother monitored him after he was found unconscious in the bath- room. "But the monitoring was actually watching him die," he said. The heroin addiction awareness meeting was organized by Alderman Jeff Krickhahn and held in Delafield City Hall last month. Krickhahn became emotional while he spoke of how a friend's son died from a heroin overdose. Krickhahn said heroin has increas- ingly become the party drug of choice for today's youth because of the euphoric high it can provide and its availability. The presenters at the meeting also shared how heroin addiction often begins after someone starts abusing opiate drugs like oxy- codone. Those people may move on to heroin because they can no longer get the prescription drugs. Bloedow said he has only responded to the single fatal heroin overdose, but he worries about the future. "We are very fortunate that we haven't had another, but I fear that another one is not far off," he said. Officer Landon Nyren, a member of the Major Investigations Unit with Bloedow, said officers have seen every type of person imaginable abusing heroin or other opiates. Another pre- scription drug that Nyren has seen abused is Fentanyl, which comes in both preparations to be taken orally and patches. One fatality Nyren investigated came after a man complained to his Fentanyl supplier that the patch was- n't working well, so the supplier told him to "suck on it." The man's friends later found him dead with the patch still in his mouth. "Not only does your friend die of an overdose, you find them," he said. Nyren said the majority of property crimes in the area are prompted by heroin or other opiate addictions. According to data Bloedow read, in 2013 there were 227 heroin deaths in Wisconsin and between 2008 and 2013 there was a 201 percent increase in fatal heroin overdoses. Problem is complex The problem is not one that police arrests can solve, nor can prosecution fix, said Waukesha County Deputy District Attorney Susan Opper. "This is the work of the devil," she said. "There is no answer." Opper has been assigned only to prosecuting narcotic cases in Wauke- sha County, something that wasn't needed a few years ago, but now nar- cotic-related homicides exceed traffic deaths in the county. She said heroin addicts eventually need a fix each day just so they don't get sick. It's a con- stant struggle to figure out how to pay for the drugs, where to get them and what mode of transportation can be taken to get them. "I would not wish this on my worst enemy even for a day," Opper said of a heroin addict's lifestyle. The issue is complex, she said, explaining that even if a judge orders treatment, a person can refuse to cooperate. Friends can also be enablers. Rediscovered statues to be permanently placed in Delafield park Lake Country T H I S M O N T H Lake Country This Month is free and will arrive in your mail the third week of each month. In each month's edition we will take an in- depth look at an issue, person or other story in Lake Country. We will also provide other important information such as community activi- ties and updates on local stories. We encourage you to subscribe to the daily Freeman or the weekly Enterprise for coverage of Lake Country and other parts of our area. To subscribe, to reach one of the editors with story ideas or for photo reprints, call 542-2500. We hope you enjoy this month's edition. – Freeman and Enterprise editors Hello, Lake Country! 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See HEROIN, PAGE 2A

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