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Drug experts said on Monday that Fentanyl, a synthetic opiate painkiller which is 50 times stronger than morphine and heroine, is now becoming an opioid crisis in the Milwaukee County.

Fentanyl, health officials say, has become an unabated crisis in the community. Last year, the narcotic has flooded the community and have become the main problem, the Journal Sentinel reports.

According to Brian Peterson, Milwaukee County Medical Examiner, there were only 16 reported cases of overdose involving fentanyl on 2011; but last year, a total of 97 drug overdose deaths were recorded. An alarming rate, the examiner said.

Peterson said that heroine is still a big player but fentanyl is the new killer. The numbers of deaths involving the drug keep getting scarier, he said.

Senator Tammy Baldwin spoke at the Lisbon Avenue Health in Milwaukee and said that provision in the Affordable Care Act should be provided for addiction treatment. It should be preserved and protected.
If a person uses the drug, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, one might actually end up killing oneself, the Narconon informs.

Since the drug is deadly, it is very dangerous to inject and make use of fentanyl outside of a medical environment. Medical health professionals provide forms in which the drug intake makes it impossible to overdose. For example, fentanyl drug used by a patient with cancer gets the drug in a lollipop form that dissolves very slowly.

Despite attempts of drug information dissemination, many are still abusing its use. Those addicted may take more than what is prescribed by the doctor and takes it either by injecting or ingesting the gel squeezed out from the patch.

Michael Murphy said that the problem of the drug's abuse has spread around the country, with the most recent overdose case of a 44-year-old male.

A clinical coordinator at the Outreach Community Health, Kristen Wlodek, said that there needs to be an immediate action to treat addiction with the government's support for rehabilitation centers and clinics.
Public officials in the county are now raising awareness of the drug epidemic to schools and middle-aged users.