Report Finds Fentanyl #1 Killer of Wisconsinites Ages 25-54

MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WRN) — A new report details the scourge of fentanyl in Wisconsin.

The report by Forward Analytics, the research arm of the Wisconsin Counties Association, finds the synthetic opioid painkiller is the number one killer of Wisconsinites ages 25 to 54.

Synthetic opioid deaths increased more than 1,000% from 2015 to 2021, killing more than 4,300 people in the state, the majority from fentanyl.

Wisconsin’s Black and Native American residents have a fentanyl mortality rate nearly three times higher than the rate of whites, and men are more than twice as likely to die as women.