Kendall County Times

On Nov. 15, Sen. Sally Turner (R-Lincoln) and Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) held a press conference to unveil legislation to combat the fentanyl epidemic.

“We need to act now in order to combat horrific trends that we're seeing in our state and our nation when it comes to synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl,” Rezin said. “This is an epidemic that's exploded like wildfire in recent years. Nationally nearly 70,000 people aged 18 and older died in 2021 from synthetic opioid-related incidents, according to the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). And 90% of those deaths were fentanyl-related. If you break this down, this is the equivalent of 1 plane crashing each and every day across the country."

Rezin stressed the need for more legislation.

"We need stronger and more specific laws and penalties for people poisoning unsuspecting victims with their fake pills," Rezin said. "People are losing their loved ones each and every day. We not only have the opportunity to hold those people accountable and responsible with this bill, we have a real chance to make an impact and prevent avoidable deaths in the future.”

Senate Bill 4221 was introduced on Aug. 5 by Turner. Rezin is the chief co-sponsor of the legislation.

The bill amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act and makes changes so that a person who knowingly and unlawfully sells or dispenses any scheduled drug containing a detectable amount of fentanyl is guilty of a Class X felony and shall be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of not less than 9 years and not more than 40 years or fined not more than $250,000.

The bill had its first reading on Nov. 14 before the state Senate and was referred to the Senate Assignments Committee.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reported Illinoisans aged 55 and over were heavily hit by opioid deaths at 730 dead in 2020.