Drug overdoses spike in western Wisconsin

Emergency responders in western Wisconsin are raising the alarm after seeing a sudden spike in drug overdoses in recent weeks. It’s significant enough for authorities in La Crosse to warrant a public safety alert by emergency responders.

Chris Eberlein, an emergency medical physician at Emplify Health in La Crosse, said the number of overdoses cases his team treats has more than tripled since late July. Eberlein, who oversees Emplify’s ambulance services across western Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota and Iowa, said the emergency response teams typically field one to three overdose cases a week.

But in recent weeks, it’s been eight to 10 per week, and he grows concerned when overdose cases begin to increase in quick succession.

“This is not safe right now, and we’ve got to take extra precautions,” Eberlein said.

Eberlein said he does not yet have firm data on how many patients were hospitalized or may have died due to overdoses in the past month.

According to the alert issued by the La Crosse Fire Department and other local emergency response agencies, it’s unknown what exactly is driving the spike, but their teams think it's due to a change in the makeup of street drugs in the greater La Crosse community, and possibly in other areas too.

Eberlein said that the cases his team have responded to this month have involved mixtures of drugs. He said the majority of the patients who overdosed used cocaine or methamphetamine, not knowing it was likely laced with opiates, such as fentanyl. Combining stimulants with opiates makes drug use even more high risk.

“I’m not even sure the dealers know what they’re getting,” Eberlein said, adding that what “they can get in the cheapest, in the most quantity, is what they’re going to use and they’re going to sell.”

Eberlein said area first responders, public health agencies, and emergency rooms started tracking overdose data years ago, trying to learn more about trends in opiate use and dangerous drug combinations so they can get alerts out expediently and get ahead of crises.

This isn’t the biggest spike he’s seen, but it certainly has surpassed the threshold warranting a public safety alert. Eberlein said he was surprised because overdose deaths in the region have been decreasing significantly the last few years.

The overdose surge began July 21 and peaked the week of July 27. Though numbers have fallen a bit since, there are still more overdoses than usual. Eberlein recommended that drug users take precautions, and always use fentanyl test strips, have Narcan by their side, and never use alone.

“It’s important that people realize that this is not just an urban problem,” he said. “Some close friends of mine have lost people that they love. It’s really affected the entire country, not just urban centers.”