McLean County Times

Illinois Sen. Sue Rezin recently discussed Senate Bill 4221, which was introduced in August by Sen. Sally Turner and chief co-sponsored by Rezin.

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 nine years and not more than 40 years or fined not more than $250,000.

"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. 

Rezin went on to talk about how the issue has expanded.

"This is an epidemic that's exploded like wildfire in recent years," she said. "Nationally nearly 70,000 people aged 18 and older died in 2021 from synthetic opioid-related incidents, according to the CDC. And 90% of those deaths were fentanyl-related. If you break this down, this is the equivalent of one plane crashing each and every day across the country. Yet, we barely hear anyone talk about this issue. According to one recent study, fentanyl is now the leading cause of death of Americans between the age of 18 and 45."

Rezin also talked about how she wanted to fight the problem inside of Illinois. 

"Just because the span's nationwide doesn't mean we should sit back and do nothing in the state of Illinois," Rezin said. "There are things that we can do as legislators to curb the growing problem in this state. It's a growing problem in our state and it cannot be ignored."

Rezin said in 2013, Illinois saw 87 overdoses from synthetic opioids.

"This is the year before fentanyl started to really hit the illegal market. In 2021, according to the Department of Public Health, Illinois saw 2,672 overdose deaths from synthetic opioids which are mainly attributed to fentanyl. This is nearly a 3,000% increase in overdose deaths from 2013 to 2021," Rezin said. "Let me repeat that — in less than a decade the state of Illinois saw nearly a 3,000% increase in opioid overdose deaths. Last year, the overdose deaths were more than homicide and suicide combined. There were more overdose deaths. As lawmakers, we cannot turn a blind eye to the staggering trend. We need to confront it now. We need to hold those who are selling the drug accountable. We need to make it clear that if you conduct this kind of criminal activity in Illinois, there will be consequences."

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