PEWAUKEE, Wis. — On Friday, the Biden-Harris Administration announced a $1.5 billion investment to address the overdose epidemic and support recovery efforts across the country. Wisconsin DHS is set to receive nearly $17 million with another nearly $2 million going to tribes across the state.
The money from the federal government is allocated to address addiction and the opioid crisis, expand substance use treatment and prevention in rural communities, provide greater access to naloxone products like Narcan, and increase access to recovery supports. There is also funding for law enforcement officials on the front lines and to disrupt global drug trafficking operations.
Erin Rachwal knows the very real heartbreak the opioid epidemic, in particular the fentanyl epidemic, causes. On Valentine's Day of 2021, she lost her son Logan. He was 19 and a freshman at UW-Milwaukee.
"Still there are days where you can't believe he's actually really gone," Rachwal said.
Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid 50 times stronger than heroin, was found in Logan's system after he was found in his dorm room. Rachwal said her son was unaware the drug he was taking had the deadly substance in it.
For that reason, Rachwal calls her son's death a poisoning, not an overdose.
"This is very different because you're being deceived. It's a deceit to death," she said.
Unfortunately, Rachwal knows she's not alone in her pain. According to DHS, fentanyl deaths in Wisconsin increased by 97% between 2019 and 2021.
"It's also very triggering when almost daily I'm getting either a message or seeing a message from someone else I know and you're seeing 16-year-old kids, 15-year-old kids, 13-year-old kids, 11-year-old kids taking a pill, and dying," she said.
Since her son's death, she and he husband and their youngest son have been advocating for better education and prevention measures. She said she's happy to see funding from the federal government.
"I'm very grateful that they're starting to give some national attention to it. Better late than never," Rachwal said about the funding announced by the Biden-Harris Administration.
Rachwal's own advocacy has led to UW-Milwaukee having Narcan on campus. She's now working on a bill to get Narcan on all college campuses across Wisconsin.
She hopes to see more funding and resources dedicated to the crisis, especially when it comes to education.
"These kids don't even have a chance to get to a point of recovery because they're dying," Rachwal said. "Dead people can't recover."
She says the fentanyl crisis should be treated in a similar way as the COVID-19 pandemic.
"In how many days did our whole nation know what COVID was? What to do, to put a mask on, to have social distancing? I mean everyone knew immediately. So that's the type of response we need with fentanyl. Everyone needs to know what's going on, what to do, what are the signs, and how to prevent it," she said.
You can support Rachwal's advocacy through the Love, Logan Foundation.
