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Health department reports rise in overdose calls but fall in deaths; vaping and xylazine noted as concerns
Summary
Sawyer County Health and Human Services reported a 33% increase in law enforcement overdose calls in 2024 but a roughly 55% decrease in overdose deaths among county residents; officials flagged vaping in schools, the presence of xylazine in the local drug supply, and changing age patterns in overdoses.
Health and Human Services staff reported to the Sawyer County Criminal Justice Coordinating Council that emergency calls for overdoses rose in 2024 while resident overdose deaths fell, and staff highlighted evolving risks in the local drug supply including vaping‑related findings and the presence of xylazine.
“When you compare the two years, our calls to law enforcement for overdose actually increased by 33 percent,” the Health and Human Services presenter said, and added that “the deaths from overdose decreased by almost 55 percent.” The staff member attributed part of the decline in deaths to wider availability and use of naloxone (Narcan) and increased willingness of bystanders to call for help.
Officials noted concerning age trends: calls for people aged 55–60 rose substantially (presenter cited a 150 percent increase) and calls for people 66 and over rose by more than 400 percent, though staff cautioned those percentages reflect small baseline counts. Among younger adults aged about 17–35 who had overdose calls, “75 percent of those were on heroin,” the presenter said; for ages 46–65, fentanyl was more commonly recorded.
Staff also reported that local school surveys and confiscation numbers suggest vaping is in the community’s youth supply and that some students reported methamphetamine in vapes. “Of the kids who will admit that they are vaping or have vaped, 30 percent of them have stated that there was meth in their vapes,” the presenter said. The presenter added that some schools do not track vape confiscation counts and that efforts continue to collect consistent school data.
Health staff raised a critical clinical concern about xylazine — a veterinary sedative increasingly found mixed with fentanyl and other drugs — saying it “does not [get] counteracted by Narcan” and that cases elsewhere have required supplemental oxygen and sometimes resulted in severe soft‑tissue injury. The presenter said local providers have been warned about xylazine for more than a year.
The council discussed whether overdose calls represent intentional (suicidal) versus accidental overdoses; staff said they annotate incidents when suicidal ideation is reported but that most overdoses recorded are accidental. The presenter emphasized the county’s data are limited to residents (deaths of nonresidents are not included in the county counts).
Health staff said their overdose‑data committee has built local datasets because small county counts can be blanked in state reports to avoid identifiability. Members discussed using the local trends to pursue grant funding and tailor prevention and education efforts by age and gender; staff noted female overdose calls are increasing while male calls are steady or decreasing.
Council members asked for further clarification and follow‑up data, including emergency‑department coding that had not yet been added to the dataset presented; staff said ED figures will be included at the next meeting.
