Private school leaders can use their influence with school families and the community to help fight against the opiate drug abuse problem leading to crime and death in the state, Attorney General Brad Schimel told WCRIS Administrators at the WCRIS annual Leadership Conference recently.

After sharing tragic stories of families from all economic, social, religious and cultural backgrounds torn apart by addiction to opiates, Schimel urged private school administrators to help fight the scourge of opiate abuse.

“We like to think this is an urban problem but this is happening to kids in every school district, every community. These are kids who are active in sports, excelling in school activities,” he said.

Opiate addiction starts with the use of legally prescribed pain killers. When the prescription runs out, people of all walks of life are turning to street heroin to feed their addiction, Schimel said, noting that law enforcement is seeing opiate use start as early as age 12 or 13.

He said teenagers and others are stealing the opiate-based pain killers from relatives, and turning to street heroin when the pharmacy drugs run out.

There were about 850 opiate deaths in Wisconsin in 2015, and Schimel said he expects when the numbers are analyzed for last year, opiate deaths will be the number one cause of accidental deaths in 2015.

“You have a great opportunity to reach families, both parents and kids. If we work together, we can get out of this,” he told the WCRIS Administrators.

Schimel offered several concrete actions that people can take, and which WCRIS principals can share with school parents:

  1. When a doctor prescribes an opiate-based pain killer, ask if that level of medicine is really necessary, especially if the prescription is for a child.
  2. When you get the opiate-based prescription and bring it home, keep it locked up.
  3. When the pain has passed and you are healed, dispose of the unused prescription. Do not throw it in the garbage or down the toilet because it poisons the water table. Call your local police department to find out the nearest location that will accept your unused drugs.