State Sen. calls state opioid problem “a mirror on a crisis”

Posted on March 25, 2022
prescription drugs
Opioid overdoses went up by a third from 2019 to 2020. (Photo courtesy: Pixabay)

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – The latest salvo in the opioid crisis is a bill to immunize people from prosecution when they seek treatment or tests. Perhaps you’d be reluctant otherwise.

But State Sen. Robert Peters (D-Chicago) says this is too important not to do something.

“This is a mirror on a crisis,” Peters said .”When you look at the individual in a struggle, you look at the community in a struggle, you look at the state in a struggle, you look at the country in a struggle. If we don’t do what we have to do to make sure that people are protected and safe, and they know what is going into their body, then all we are doing is leaving them to the wolves that is the fentanyl overdose crisis.”

Opioid overdoses went up by a third from 2019 to 2020. And fatalities in 2020 approached three thousand.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

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