A four hour outdoor Drug Overdose Awareness day event from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00p.m. at Milwaukee County Mitchell Park is expected to draw hundreds of people including family members of those victims who lost their lives to drug addiction and drug overdose by laced fentanyl drugs, and also local and state public elected officials are expected to attend.
By H. Nelson Goodson
Hispanic News Network U.S.A.
August 30, 2022
Milwaukee, Wisconsin - On Wednesday, Team HAVOC will be holding a Drug Overdose Awareness March and a four hour outdoor event with sponsors at Milwaukee County Mitchell Park in the Southside of Milwaukee. The Team HAVOC drug awareness event is part of the International Overdose Awareness Day.
Rafael "Pancho" Mercado from Team HAVOC confirmed on Tuesday that the Drug Overdose Awareness March will begin around 5:00 p.m. from Mitchell Park and head North across the S. 27 Street Viaduct to W. Wisconsin Ave., then head Eastbound along Wisconsin Ave. to N. 16 St., then head Southbound along the S. 16 Street Viaduct to W. National Ave., then head Westbound along National Ave. to S. Layton Blvd. (S. 27th St.) and then head Northbound to Mitchell Park.
Mercado says, we will March for those lives lost and celebrate their lives and give them a voice while collecting school supplies for the kids in need and we are raffling off many great items at the Mitchell Park event. See you there and thank you, to all our sponsors.
The school supplies will be donated to both Albert E. Kagel Elementary School and H. W. Longfellow Middle School.
There will be activities for the kids, face painting, bouncing houses and special guest D.J. Cubano from Panama City Beach, Florida, according to Mercado.
In Wisconsin, there's no law that treats a fentanyl overdose death as fentanyl poisoning (homicide crime). Most fentanyl related deaths are considered mere overdose deaths and hardly anyone selling or supplying fentanyl laced drugs get charged with intentional drug poisoning, or a drug related homicide.
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office (MCMEO) reported on August 11, 2022 that the number of fentanyl deaths increased more than 170% over the past 5 years (from 2017 to 2022).
On August 10, 2022, the MCMEO reported that drug related deaths were up more than 60% from 2017 to 2021 and this year are higher.
On July 28, 2022, the MCMEO reported that 238 fentanyl deaths to date in Milwaukee County and 96 additional cases pending toxicology testing.
Update video, WI: Milwaukee Southside National Drug Overdose Awareness Day March 2022
https://youtu.be/XXlFd9McMrk
The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office reported on August 31, 2022 that more than 700 drug related deaths this year, far exceeding last year's record number.
On September 1, 2022, the MCMEO reported that 80% percent of confirmed drug deaths this year in Milwaukee County involved fentanyl. The youngest victim was 5, and the oldest was 81.