Overdose Prevention Education

The City of Milwaukee Office of African American Affairs offers health literacy education, community-level prevention education classes, and training on Fentanyl Awareness and Overdose Intervention. 

You have the power to save a life.
Naloxone can reverse an opioid (including fentanyl) overdose and save a loved one’s life.

YouCanSaveLives.org

Overdose Deaths and the Black Community in The United States:

• Before the COVID-19 pandemic, overdose deaths increased in the Black population, while leveling off in the white population at the same time, indicating a clear need for services focused on racial equity. Under the COVID-19 pandemic, racial disparities in overdose deaths have since worsened dramatically, with rates of fatal overdose among Black people exceeding rates among white people for the first time in 20 years. 
• Fatal overdose deaths rose 144 percent among Black women between 2015 and 2020. Among women who use drugs.
• Black and American Indian/Alaska Native men are most likely to die of a preventable drug overdose, and the national rates of fatal overdose among Black men has risen 213% since 2015. 
• From 2004 to 2019, stimulant-involved overdose deaths were highest among the Black persons.   
• Black communities may not be aware that they call opioids by different names like “lean” and “percs”

• Black communities may not be aware that substances like crack and cocaine most likely contain the opioid fentanyl.

In Milwaukee County fatal overdoses among Black people increased by 52% between 2020 and 2021, this the highest rate of increase of any racial group. These preventable fatal overdoses are happening for people of all ages including family members, friends, teachers, neighbors. But they don't have to.

Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is an approach to drug use that places the health and dignity of people who use drugs as the first priority of any response. Harm reduction can take many forms, from interventions such as Naloxone or sterile syringes, to health services like medications or counseling, to supportive services such as housing and supervised consumption spaces.

Additional resources: 

• Support Harm Reduction
• Overdose Prevention Initiative toolkits and resources
• Public Health Advisory: Fentanyl Increasingly Present in Overdose Deaths in Wisconsin
• Dose of Reality: Get the Facts on Opioids
• Dose of Reality: Fentanyl – Get the Facts