ELGIN, IL (Chambana Today) – A new law led by State Representative Anna Moeller and State Senator Mary Edly-Allen aims to prevent unnecessary fentanyl-related deaths by giving more tools for law enforcement to investigate.
Opioids have been an extremely pressing issue in Illinois, with 3,261 opioid-related deaths in 2022 alone rising by 8.1% from 2021. Cort Stevens, a resident of Elgin, regrettably lost a close friend to fentanyl, a Schedule II drug similar to morphine and heroin, in March 2022 and found out that it was required for hospitals to inform coroners, but not police departments about the circumstances regarding these types of deaths. Stevens believes that if the police were informed beforehand, the dealer may have been caught and may have been able to prevent more fentanyl-related deaths.
“To me, this is a situation of a mismatch between words and actions. We keep hearing how bad of a problem fentanyl is, but then we don’t require police to be alerted to allow timely investigations,” Cort said.
Cort eventually brought his concerns to the Kane County Coroner, the Elgin Police Department and eventually to Representative Moeller who filed House Bill 4942. The bill states that coroners are required by law to contact law enforcement when there is a suspicion of fentanyl related to a person’s death. The bill cleared the Illinois House at a whopping 110-0 and the Illinois Senate 58-0 in May. Representative Moeller hopes to spare more families from experiencing the pain of losing loved ones to fentanyl with the passing of this new bill.
“Our country is dealing with one of the deadliest drug crises in history. We need to ensure that fentanyl is a part of a coroner’s report to keep track of its reach in our communities,” said Senator Edly-Allen.