“Heroin is no longer a secret,” Illinois State Rep. Patti Bellock told dozens of lawmakers, community leaders and local advocates who gathered at the Robert Crown Center for Health and Education in suburban Chicago on Wednesday to commemorate the inaugural Illinois Heroin Abuse Awareness Day.

“Eight or nine years ago,I wasn’t worried about heroin,” said Bellock, who sponsored the resolution to make November 4th Heroin Abuse Awareness Day — an effort to raise awareness among Illinois residents, and parents in particular, about the dangers of heroin, the deadly drug at the center of a nationwide epidemic.

“When a close friend approached me, distraught because her son was addicted, I was shocked,” Bellock said. “People weren’t aware that heroin was a problem.”

The midwest, and the Chicagoland area specifically, have been among the regions hardest hit by the country’s current drug problem which, according to the CDC, has caused the rate of heroin-related deaths to nearly triple since 2010. Read more on Yahoo News.

State lawmakers decided to stick with their own version of legislation meant to prevent heroin overdose death, dealing a big blow to Gov. Bruce Rauner's attempt to rewrite the plan.

The Illinois House overrode Rauner's veto of a proposal to push courts to use more treatment options with heroin addicts and require local authorities to keep overdose antidotes on hand.

The governor removed a section of the legislation that requires Medicaid to pay for opioid addiction treatment without some of the cost-saving mechanisms Rauner supports.

But in the end, Democrats and some Republicans in the House voted to drop Rauner's changes by a 105-5 vote. Now, the Senate will have the option to do the same in the coming weeks. If senators override Rauner, the plan becomes law despite his objections. If they don't, the whole proposal languishes. Read the rest of this story by Mike Riopell in the Daily Herald.

Two Illinois lawmakers plan to propose bipartisan legislation Monday to combat growing heroin and prescription drug abuse, though they acknowledge it may be tough to pass in a difficult budget year.

The 240-page bill, sponsored by House Democratic Assistant Majority Leader Lou Lang and GOP State Rep. John Anthony, is a byproduct of legislative task force that traveled around the state over recent months to hear testimony from doctors, coroners, pharmacists, treatment centers, addicts and family members on heroin use and its correlation to prescription drug abuse.

The legislation, the details of which Lang shared with The Associated Press in advance of its filing, would require drugs combating heroin overdoses, such as Narcan, to be dispensed more widely to those who have been trained to properly administer them.

Currently, some police units carry the antidotes, but the legislation would require all state and local government agencies that employ law enforcement officers and firefighters to possess them. School officials and family members of addicts could also administer the drugs, if they received proper training. CBS Chicago has the story.

Budget - Debt Rating
Bloomberg News analysis shows Illinois’ 10-year bonds trading at below BBB level. The actual level of safety and security perceived by global debt markets is set by the bond marketplace, with guidance from the three credit rating services (Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings). However, after the 2008 financial panic, many investors have become skeptical of credit rating services. A Bloomberg News analysis, published on Thursday, August 7, indicates that this skepticism may be weighing down the prices of Illinois bonds.

A bill that directs the Young Adults Heroin Use Task Force to study the growing problem of heroin use among school-aged children was signed into law today.

House Bill 4542, now known as Public Act 98-0861, charges a 16-member panel with conducting a study of heroin use problems in grades 6-12.

“Heroin has unfortunately become the new drug of choice for school-aged children,” said State Representative Ron Sandack (R-Downers Grove), a Co-Sponsor of the bill. “Ease of access and affordability of the drug led to 46 heroin overdose deaths in DuPage County last year, compared to 29 deaths just five years ago.” Read more.

Other stories on the Heroin Crisis:
Heroin in the Suburbs
Illinois Lawmakers Study Heroin "Epidemic"
Legislation Establishing Substance Abuse Treatment Facility Approved by House

It's a big number that State Representative Patti Bellock (R-Westmont) calls a “public health crisis of epic proportion.”

Now, two Illinois legislative committees are studying the growing use of heroin in Illinois and one of the more alarming findings of their studies is a trend twoard younger and younger users. Read the entire story on CSNChicago.

Advancing a key aspect of the heroin legislative package sponsored by Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), the Illinois House has approved a measure that will allow the establishment of a Pilot Program to create a secure facility with on-site substance abuse treatment in DuPage County, Cook County, and a third location to be determined. The facilities will serve as a “last chance” option where individuals convicted of drug or property crimes would be allowed to serve their sentences in a treatment-intensive environment. Read more about the legislation.

Budget
House Joint Committee hears from budget experts, Democrats move forward with FY15 revenues estimates.  The Joint Committee on Revenue and State Government held a hearing on Tuesday, February 18 to finalize comments from the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (CGFA), the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB), and the Illinois Department of Revenue (IDOR), on the approaching final tax revenue numbers for FY14, ending June 30, 2014, and the likely numbers for FY15.  CGFA continues to estimate that the State will take in approximately $34.4 billion in general funds revenues in FY15.

The Young Adults Heroin Use Task Force that was created last year by the Illinois General Assembly will be coming to Rockford to hear local testimony. The task force was created to address the growing problem of heroin use in high schools and communities throughout the State. State Representative John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) is one of fourteen members appointed to the task force last year.

“Heroin abuse in our communities and schools continues to grow at an alarming rate,” said Rep. Cabello. “We are facing an epidemic that needs a solution to help combat the problem. This task force will use the testimony to construct a statewide report in hopes of creating a roadmap to curving abuse in our schools in communities.” Read more.

When: Saturday, March 1, 2014
Where: Rock Valley College, 3301 N. Mulford Road, Rockford, IL 61114
Location: Woodward Technology Center Room 119, Parking Lot 2
Time: 11:00AM – 2:00PM

Join the discussion.