UWM Opioid Research

As part of UWM's Health Research Forum, Professors Melinda Kavanaugh (social work), Tina Freiburger (criminal justice) and research assistant Rachel Brous detailed the process behind the Milwaukee County opioid fatality review. What's the impact? How can the community come together - and where are there clear points for intervention?

Milwaukee County uses opioid fatality reviews to examine incidences of overdose. Members of the review group include physicians, behavioral health providers, county health departments, local schools, local, state, and federal law enforcement, the county district attorney’s office, emergency medical services, fire departments, county child protective services, and local and state corrections.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/opioid-crisis-epidemic.html

New York Times shares how Milwaukee County has "witnessed an alarming rise in drug-related deaths for years now: 251 deaths in 2014, 255 in 2015, and they surpassed those figures in 2016. Last year, 299 people in Milwaukee County died of drug-related overdoses."

Inside a Killer Drug Epidemic: A Look at America’s Opioid Crisis The opioid epidemic killed more than 33,000 people in 2015. What follows are stories of a national affliction that has swept the country, from cities on the West Coast to bedroom communities in the Northeast.

https://www.facebook.com/UWMCriminalJusticeDept/

UWM Department of Criminal Justice & Criminology We welcome transfer and returning students! Earn your bachelor's or master's degree online. (In-person option also available for the bachelor's program.) Home to Wisconsin's first crime analysis program. Join us!

http://www.wuwm.com/post/uwm-researchers-study-opioid-overdose-patterns-impacts /0

UWM Researchers Study Opioid Overdose Patterns & Impacts Last year, nearly 500 people died in Milwaukee County as a result of overdosing on opioids. It is part of a national epidemic of opioid deaths that

UWM's opioid research team is led by Dr. Melinda Kavanaugh and Dr. Tina Freiburger. The goals of this research project are to understand barriers to accessing resources associated with prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioid addiction.