Milwaukee Co. overdose deaths highest among African Americans
Edgar Mendez
February 22, 2024
Each Monday, Tahira Malik, founder and chief operations officer for Samad’s House, a sober living facility for women, heads out to drug overdose hot spots on the North and South sides of the city.
Her group is part of a community collective, which includes Street Angels, Community Medical Services, Vivent Health,  Milwaukee County, the Milwaukee Health Department and the Milwaukee Fire Department, among others.
Together these organizations provide resources, including Narcan and fentanyl testing strips. They also warn residents that their next high could be their last.
“We’ve seen people overdosing that we just gave Narcan to and used it to revive them,” Malik said.
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At particular risk are Black males, she said.
“African American males are dying at a higher rate than any other ethnicity,” Malik said.
According to data provided in January by Karen Domagalski, operations manager for the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, 576 individuals died of drug overdoses in 2023, with 90 additional cases pending toxicology.
African Americans represented about 40% (229) of fatal drug overdose victims, but just 27% of the total population in Milwaukee County, according to U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
By comparison, whites represent 63% of the total population in the county and 43% (248) of victims, while Latinx residents make up 17% of the county’s total and 14% (81) of victims, based on data from Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office.
Over the past several years, advocates say, more drugs like cocaine have been mixed with fentanyl, with deadly results, according to Malik and others on the front lines of the battle to save lives from overdoses.
“Individuals go out and think they’re only purchasing cocaine, but it’s cut with fentanyl and they’re overdosing,” said Ken Ginlack, CEO of Serenity Inns, a drug treatment facility for men located at 2825 W. Brown St. “Many have been using cocaine for years without overdosing so they don’t take precautions.”
Data from the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office reflects that trend. In 2017, 142 overdose deaths involved cocaine alone or in combination with fentanyl.
Each year, that total has risen, peaking at 393 cocaine-related deaths in 2023, according to data from the Medical Examiner’s Office.
That total represents 68% of all overdose deaths in the county last year. The rate of drug overdose deaths involving cocaine among African Americans was 73%.
“I lost some people, friends of mine who have overdosed and passed away from using cocaine laced with fentanyl,” Ginlack said.
Desilynn Smith, clinical director at Gateway to Change, a treatment center located at 2319 W. Capitol Drive, uses an analogy about baking chocolate chip cookies to help educate the public about how dangerous batches of cocaine that contain fentanyl are. Smith is also executive director of Uniting Garden Homes Inc., 4201 N. 27th St.
“You might get a cookie that has no chocolate chips, but you might take a bite of a cookie with a lot of them,” Smith said, comparing the chips to fentanyl. “I’ve talked to people who had a friend die of an overdose, while they didn’t, even though they used together.”
Smith lost her husband, anti-violence advocate Hamid Abd-Al-Jabbar, to a fentanyl overdose in 2021.
Supporting patients with substance use disorders can include the use of medicated-assisted treatments such as methadone, which helps to ease withdrawal symptoms and relieve cravings for opioid users, and counseling.
Other forms of treatment include mental health treatment and other relapse-prevention strategies.
A challenge in treating individuals addicted to both cocaine, which is a stimulant, and fentanyl, which is an opioid, is that many aren’t aware of their dual addiction.
Withdrawal symptoms for each are different, Malik said.
“Opioids is more of a physical addiction, while with stimulants, it’s more psychological,” she explained.
Ultimately, the goal is to prevent individuals from dying of overdoses by raising awareness.
Ginlack believes that word about the problem is getting out, as evidenced by attendance at an International Overdose Awareness Day event he hosted in August with Twelve Step Club Inc., which hosts Narcotics Anonymous meetings at 4102 W. Townsend Ave.
“That event was the biggest attendance that I ever saw of African Americans,” he said. “The community is starting to be more  aware as they’re having family members, friends and loved ones die.
“But more education still needs to be done about cocaine being cut with fentanyl.”
Ginlack urges individuals to visit any of Milwaukee County’s 11 Harm Reduction Vending Machines
to pick up free doses of Narcan and fentanyl testing strips and use them to check all drugs.
Malik said she also hopes that more people become aware that their lives are at extreme risk and take the necessary precautions.
“People are getting high to escape their reality, not to lose their life,” Malik said. “We’re not here to judge you, we just want you to live.”
Where to find substance use resources in Milwaukee