The Fond du Lac County executive says the biggest issue impacting county government continues to be the opioid epidemic. Al Buechel says the crisis has had a significant impact on services provided through the Department of Social Services. Buechel says caseloads have skyrocketed involving children whose parents are addicted to heroin and other opioids. “In one weekend in September there were 13 kids removed from homes, four of t hose were drug-addicted homes,” Buechel told WFDL news. Last year Fond du Lac joined nearly two dozen Wisconsin counties in a federal lawsuit targeting pharmaceutical companies. The lawsuit says local governments’ health and law enforcement services “have been strained to the breaking point” because of widespread opioid abuse:
