Attorney General Brad Schimel
Look for a slight change in the focus of Wisconsin’s anti-drug campaign.
Attorney General Brad Schimel says his predecessor, J.B. Van Hollen, did a wonderful job with “The Fly Effect” campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of heroin. However, he wants to shift the focus of the effort to emphasize the problems with the pain pills that usually lead to heroin use. Schimel said “the agency has been focusing heavily on heroin. We’re moving the focus now to talk about the prescription opiates, the drugs that people get from doctors and dentists, because those are the place where this all starts. Nobody starts using heroin. They start by getting addicted to these pills.”
The Attorney General said the danger of prescription pills in the home is much larger than people realize, comparing to leaving a loaded weapon unattended in your home. “I would never leave a loaded handgun sitting on the counter at my house, because I’ve got teenaged daughters, and they’ve got friends over all of the time. I would never dream of leaving that out like that because it’s dangerous. Nobody suggests to parents that those prescription narcotics in your medicine cabinet are killing a lot more people than handguns, and yet, nobody’s really thinking about it.”
Schimel hopes to launch the new campaign soon, along with a re-branded website.
WSAU