"Bad batch" of heroin may be to blame for spike in overdoses in Kenosha County

KENOSHA COUNTY -- An alarming new warning from Kenosha police: a "bad" batch of heroin is hitting the area. It may be responsible for one death, and a half-dozen overdoses in just the past few days.

In a message to the public, Kenosha police says the department "does not condone drug use," but warns six heroin-related overdoses have occurred in just the last few days -- including one fatality.

"I wish that more people understood that it is a disease and that people need help. They don't need our scorn and you can just make a decision to stop using and it will go away that easily," said Hope Council on Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse Executive Director, Guida Brown.

Guida Brown is the executive director of the Hope Council on Alcohol & Other Drug Abuse. The organization offers programs for those newly in recovery with demand increasing 50 percent among recovering heroin addicts. In Kenosha, Brown says it's the easy access to the drug, and its potency, that makes heroin such a problem.

Kenosha

"When I grew up, it was a dirty thing you saw in alleys. It's not that anymore. You can snort heroin. It's pure enough that you can snort it and get a high off of it," said Brown.

Guida Brown

Further highlighting how heroin's addictive grip can grab hold of anyone.

"I have a loved on who is addicted to heroin," said Brown.

Brown says the outcome is bleak for users who refuse treatment.

"You're either going to end up incarcerated or you're going to end up dead if you continue to use," said Brown.

In Kenosha, Brown says 60 people a year are saved by Narcan, the medication that helps restore breathing to those who have overdosed. She says VIVITROL, a medication that helps ease cravings after a user has been clean for a week, has also proven effective. But Brown says the biggest battle we fight int he war against heroin may just be the stigma's from society.

"People do not understand; they're selfish. They should just stop using, it's all about them. It's a disease. It's a chronic progressive lethal disease," Brown said.

Kenosha police tell us they are currently investigating all of these cases to try and determine the source of this batch of heroin. Anyone with information can leaven an anonymous tip through Kenosha Area Crime Stoppers at 262-656-7333.