WAUKESHA — A familiar face will be attending President Joe Biden's State of the Union address on Thursday night.
Waukesha Police Chief Daniel Thompson has been invited to Washington D.C. by Senator Tammy Baldwin. His presence is meant to highlight the work done to combat the opioid and fentanyl epidemic.
TMJ4's Ryan Jenkins met with Rich Rachwal at a park in Waukesha ahead of the speech. Rachwal lost his son Logan to an overdose while he was studying at UW-Milwaukee in 2021.
"He took what he thought was a Percocet pill and it was a fake counterfeit pill that was laced with fentanyl and he died within minutes after taking that," said Rachwal.
Since then, this grieving father and his family have launched the Love Logan Foundation to raise awareness about the dangers of drugs.
"It affects Democrats, it affects Republicans, it affects Independents," said Rachwal about the overdose epidemic. "There's no political affiliation in these deaths at all."
The conversation about overdoses and the invitation to Chief Thompson comes as the most recent data from the Wisconsin Department of Health Services shows that in 2022, there were 1,464 opioid-related deaths in Wisconsin.
The data also showed 68 of those deaths were in Waukesha County.
When it comes to what matters to people at the voting booth, a recent poll found nearly 90% of voters who were surveyed are at least somewhat concerned about fentanyl overdoses ahead of this year's election.
57% say they're very concerned, while 32% are somewhat concerned.
Rachwal told Jenkins he hopes conversations about law enforcement training, harm reduction, and awareness and policy are discussed during the President's speech at the U.S. Capitol.
"I'm hoping we can come to a resolution and do something about specifically like the border and fentanyl coming over the border from Mexico. That we can have penalties in place for people that are trying to distribute this," he said.
Rachwal also had this to say to anyone reading this story:
"If it didn't come to your doctor or a licensed pharmacist, you have to assume that it contains fentanyl and only 2Mil is enough to be a fatal dose and it could kill you.
The President's speech is Thursday, March 7, at 8 p.m.
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