ELGIN – High school students generally don’t participate in drafting legislation. Jordan Henry is an exception.
A senior at the Illinois Math and Science Academy, the Elgin native is working with her local state representative on a bill that would require public libraries to keep on hand medications that can reverse an opioid overdose. The legislation would also require libraries to always have at least one staff member working who is trained on responding to an overdose situation.
Henry, 18, said she first became interested in substance abuse issues earlier in her high school career when she learned about the “War on Drugs,” a policy movement kicked off by President Richard Nixon in the early 1970s. Though the movement has been through many iterations, it has consistently focused on preventing drug use through criminalization.
“We’ve really used punishment where care is needed,” Henry said of the movement.
Read more: State now has blueprint for K-12 schools to teach dangers of overdose
Henry started volunteering with local nonprofits in the northwest suburbs of Chicago that tackle substance abuse as well as the stigma behind it.
“Seeing it as an issue at-large and an issue close to home has made me really want to dedicate a lot of time and effort to it,” she said of the opioid epidemic’s effects on her community.
Through volunteering, Henry learned about harm reduction strategies such as syringe exchange programs and access to fentanyl test strips. Opioid antagonists, which counteract the effects of an opioid overdose, are another example of harm reduction. The medicine can be injected with a needle or ingested via nasal spray, like naloxone, the most-common opioid antagonist.
Henry was a classmate of Democratic state Rep. Anna Moeller’s daughter when they both attended Elgin High School before Henry transferred to IMSA, but the state representative only officially met Henry in 2023. Moeller was collecting ballot signatures door-to-door when she met Henry’s mother, who connected them, knowing Henry’s interest in public health policy.
Moeller said Henry presented her with the research she’d done, including having found similar library-based opioid antagonist programs in other places around the country. Moeller was complimentary of Henry’s “follow-through and her maturity” and said she agreed to work with Henry after hearing her pitch.
Despite being aware of the growing movement to have opioid antagonists available in public spaces, Moeller said she had never thought of libraries as a solution.
“When you think about it, a library is a great place to have this available,” Moeller said. “They are very well used by people, they are places you can go for free and there’s usually no barriers to being there.”
The proposal, House Bill 1910, does not provide for funding from the state, but it stipulates the opioid antagonists may be supplied by local county health departments. If the health departments are unable to supply the medicine or funding to purchase the medicine, Moeller said alternative sources would be found.
Training library staff on how to administer opioid antagonists would be overseen by organizations selected by the Illinois Department of Public Health.
The proposal does not specify the amount of opioid antagonists each library should have available, only that “all libraries open to the general public in the State shall maintain a supply of opioid antagonists in an accessible location.”
Narcan, a common brand of naloxone, has been available in Chicago Public Libraries since 2022. The city’s initiative included training library staff to administer the medicine.
“What this bill would do is to expand that all over Illinois,” Henry said. “I know it would be super beneficial in the suburbs and especially in rural areas.”
In an appearance on the Chicago Department of Public Health’s “Healthy Chicago Podcast” last year, Chicago Public Library Commissioner Chris Brown said he wasn’t initially sure the program would have success.
But in the program’s first 20 months, Chicago Public Libraries said it distributed over 10,000 Narcan kits to the community. Brown said it helps to provide an alternative to substance abuse or health centers.
“It’s just a public space that removes some of the stigma,” he said about libraries carrying the medicine. “And I think that’s what I attribute the incredible uptake in use.”
Read more: State announces plan for $760 million in opioid settlement money | How Illinois will decide on spending $40M opioid settlement with Kroger
Moeller said Henry did the majority of the work drafting the legislation, including research and reaching out to libraries in the state. The high school student also helped write the bill alongside members of Moeller’s staff.
The bill was filed in late January and is currently awaiting a hearing in the House Public Health Committee. Moeller said she is hopeful the proposal will have bipartisan support, citing past efforts by both Republican and Democratic legislators to combat the opioid overdose epidemic.
The Illinois Department of Human Services currently works with 14 organizations across the state to provide Overdose Education and Naloxone Distribution services. The organizations serve nearly every county in the state.
Meanwhile, the Illinois Department of Public Health reported a reduction in opioid overdose deaths from 3,160 in 2022 to 2,855 in 2023 – the lowest number since 2019. The decrease reflects a similar pattern to nationwide opioid overdose data, which also shows a decrease over the last two years.
Read more: Amid record overdoses and drug counselor shortage, workforce expansion program aims to fill gap
Despite the statewide decrease in opioid deaths, Henry noted the problem is not yet under control. She said people in her community are still dying from overdoses. According to IDPH’s Opioid Data Dashboard, approximately 110 people experienced overdoses within Elgin’s ZIP Codes in 2022, the latest data available.
That same year, Elgin had 11 locations where naloxone was distributed, according to that same online dashboard. Ten of the locations were pharmacies.
“It requires support on various levels,” Henry said. “Whether it be in the health care realm specifically, whether it be in public community spaces like libraries, in education and schools, it’s a huge puzzle and we’re putting it together.”
Moeller said she wants Henry to remain involved with the bill as it goes through the steps of moving a proposed law through the Illinois General Assembly “so she can see what it’s like to move policy through the legislative process.”
Henry views the bill as the first step of many when it comes to providing more resources for those experiencing drug addiction. She plans on continuing to work on ways the legislature can help with harm reduction.
“Being able to have a hand in this work, which I think is just so vital, at such a young age, is really inspiring,” Henry said. “And it shows me that I can do a lot more.”
Ismael Belkoura is a graduate student in journalism with Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications, and a fellow in its Medill Illinois News Bureau working in partnership with Capitol News Illinois.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.
The post High school student helps draft bill to require opioid overdose medications in Illinois libraries appeared first on Capitol News Illinois.