The number of Wisconsin citizens who die as a result of drug overdose now exceeds the number of those who die from motor vehicle crashes, suicide, breast cancer, colon cancer, firearms, influenza, or HIV. The age-adjusted rates of drug overdose deaths increased 72 percent from 2007 to 2016. Both illegal and prescription drug deaths are factors to this epidemic.
Vilas County Public Health is hosting a town hall on drug use Thursday at Eagle River City Hall. RSVP's for the event ended last week.
Community Health Coordinator Tammi Boers says they will have guest speakers... "
...We'll have officer Mark Collins from Eagle River Police Department and Detective Emily Miller from Vilas County Sheriff's Department. They're going to talk to the public with an overview of all the drugs that are out there and not necessarily in Vilas county but things that are common everywhere. They will talk about the drugs that they see in our community and the latest drug trends..."
Tammi Boers says they will talk about trends in Vilas county and the impact that addiction has on the community. She says they will also discuss how legalizing marijuana in Michigan affects a border county like Vilas. She says addiction has become a large public health issue...
"This is definitely an issue in Vilas county. Addiction is here, it is in the state and as we see in the news it is nationwide...."
For more information, contact the Vilas County Public Health Department.
