Leading political figures from Wisconsin have visited the La Crosse region due to concerns regarding drug-related fatalities.
This week, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisconsin) and Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers visited to La Crosse to have conversations regarding drug misuse with local law enforcement.
After attending a meeting at the Black River Beach Neighborhood Center in La Crosse, Baldwin talked with media on Thursday about the impact that drug overdoses have on communities and families.
“There are lives that are cut short far too early, families that are devastated, empty seats at the dining room table,” Baldwin stated. “It’s really an epidemic that doesn’t see any partisan bounds or geographic lines.”
La Crosse County Sheriff Jeff Siegel, Fire Chief Jeff Schott, and Chief Shawn Kudron of the La Crosse Police Department were present at the meeting.
They had a meeting with Baldwin to talk about ways to lessen the drug epidemic, as they see it.
According to Schott, more than fifty drug-related deaths in La Crosse County in recent years have unnecessarily occupied first responders.
“If there were 55 deaths from house fires in the city of La Crosse, I think that would be a tragedy that would make national news, probably every night,” Schott stated. “We have 55 overdose deaths in the county. We have to move forward in any way, shape or form to get better, to collaborate.”
According to Baldwin, collaboration between the federal and state governments is necessary to implement preventative initiatives in nations where fentanyl and related substances are produced.