Special Report

This Is the Wisconsin County With the Worst Drug Problem

Hristina Byrnes, Grant Suneson

Published: March 4, 2021 10:16 am

Last Updated: March 4, 2021 1:12 pm

The U.S. has experienced a massive surge in drug addiction, and consequently fatal overdoses, in recent years. In 1999, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported an age-adjusted rate of 6.1 fatal overdoses per 100,000 Americans. By 2019, that figure had more than tripled to 21.6 fatal drug overdoses per 100,000 people.

While this problem has affected every part of the country, certain areas struggle with an outsized share of drug overdose deaths. To determine the county with the worst drug problem in every state, 24/7 Tempo reviewed the annual average number of drug-related deaths per 100,000 residents in all U.S. counties and county equivalents from 2015 to 2019, using data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Addiction and drug use are complicated and multifaceted issues that touch Americans nationwide and at all socioeconomic levels. Still, the counties that have the worst drug problems tend to have certain characteristics in common, including relatively lower income, higher unemployment, and higher poverty. This is the poorest county in every state.

Milwaukee County, which includes the city of Milwaukee, has a drug overdose death rate of 36 per 100,000 people, the highest of all 72 counties in Wisconsin. The county has the second highest share of adults reporting being in poor or fair health, at 18.4%, compared to a state share of 16.7%. Drug use can have a wide range of long-term health effects, including respiratory problems and heart disease. The state also has the second highest share of adults reporting at least two weeks a month of poor mental health, at 13.4%. Many people with a drug use disorder are often also diagnosed with other mental disorders, including depression and anxiety.

Similar to other counties with the highest drug overdose death rate in their state, Milwaukee County has a higher poverty rate than Wisconsin as a whole. About 19.0% of residents live below the poverty line, the second highest poverty rate in the state.

As Americans have looked for answers as to how the drug problem in the country has gotten so severe, much of the blame has been placed on large pharmaceutical companies — particularly Purdue Pharma. The company began selling the painkiller OxyContin in 1996. Since then, the company has paid over $10 billion to settle a litany of lawsuits that claimed Purdue deceived patients and doctors about the risks of becoming addicted to the drug when advertising it. These are America’s most hated companies.