For the City-Times

Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has announced that the department’s ongoing heroin prevention public awareness campaign — The Fly Effect — has new materials for communities to use to spread awareness about the dangers of Heroin abuse.

Last September, the Department of Justice (DOJ) launched “The Fly Effect” campaign with a TV spot featuring a young man, cast as a heroin addict, whose life was spiraling out of control.  This month, a second TV spot is being unveiled, featuring impactful testimony from parents who’ve lost children to Heroin abuse.  The spot will begin airing in February through the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association’s Public Education Program.  To view and share the spot, click here.

“I’m tremendously grateful to all of the parents who’ve shared their painful stories in an effort to educate Wisconsin’s young people – and their parents and loved ones – about the cost and grief associated with heroin,” Attorney General Van Hollen said.  “This new TV spot ends with the line, ‘You’re not the only one Heroin hurts.’  Heroin devastates families, cuts lives short and takes a toll on communities – that’s part of why we need everyone engaged in sharing this critical message behind ‘The Fly Effect’.”

The DOJ also has added another personal video testimonial of a former addict, 30-year-old Julie, who’s currently in prison for first-degree reckless homicide for drug delivery.  In her video, Julie describes how heroin is more addictive than people realize.  “It’s not something that you can just give up whenever you want to,” she says.

“And it changes you into a monster that you don’t even know.  You look in the mirror and you don’t even know who you are.  And that’s [the] reality with drugs – it’s not fun, and it’s not a party.  It’s not, ‘Oh, we’re just going to try this once and that’s it.’  Don’t even go there. Don’t even tempt fate,” Julie says.  To view and share her video, click here.

The number of Heroin samples sent to the Wisconsin State Crime Lab for analysis continues to grow with a nearly 63 percent increase in 2013 in the overall number of samples analyzed compared to 2012.  An updated map is available on the DOJ website, www.doj.state.wi.us.

“I applaud the response of our law enforcement and first responder communities who encounter this deadly drug every day and work toward saving lives and holding traffickers accountable,” Attorney General Van Hollen said.  “Reducing the effect of Heroin in Wisconsin is truly going to take a community effort, but I’m hopeful that together, we can save lives and prevent further abuse.”

To download new posters from “The Fly Effect,” click the following link and scroll down to the bottom of the webpage:  New Posters

Also visit www.TheFlyEffect.com for more information about Heroin, personal stories and treatment resources, and spread the word by sharing it through social media.