Dupage Policy Journal

Fentanyl has been causing problems for the United States for years — the country’s answer for it was the War on Drugs; the idea of punishment and imprisonment will curve people’s addiction.

“According to the (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration), it is fentanyl that has been compounded, designed and packaged to be brightly colored. To look like chalk or candy,” Republican Rep. Deanne Mazzochi said. “We also know that there are other tactics that are being used to distribute fentanyl that has been leading to deaths.”

ACLU reported that 51% of Republican voters do support some kind of reform of the limitations associated with Republican U.S. President Richard Nixon’s War on Drugs.

“This is why Representatives Chris Bos and Keith Wheeler and I have filed HB 5808,” Mazzochi said. “This bill will accomplish several things. First, it specifically targets the tactics of formulating fentanyl to make it attractive to Children, putting it in candy, gummies, vitamins and other FDA-approved drugs or branding it so that it looks like a safe food product. Second, we're getting our state’s attorneys more tools to go after more potent analogs that may not have the identical chemical structure of fentanyl.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported there have been three waves of rising opioid deaths, mentioning fentanyl is a synthetic opioid.

House Bill 5808 was introduced on Sept. 21 by Mazzochi, Bos, Wheeler, Mark Batinick, Martin McLaughlin, Dan Ugaste, Steven Reick, Seth Lewis, Bradley Stephens and Jackie Haas are all co-sponsors of the legislation.

Illinois Senate Democrats wrote Democrat Senator Robert Peters created House Bill 4556, giving pharmacists and medical professionals the power to provide drug adulterant tests without any penalties for possessing drug testing supplies. These tests are used to better understand a drug before consumption.

House Bill 5805 amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act and “provides that if a controlled substance analog is at least 5 times as potent as the controlled substance of which it is an analog, then the weight of the controlled substance analog for purposes of the Act shall be deemed to be the weight of the controlled substance analog multiplied by the increase in potency.”

To learn more about fentanyl, visit the U.S. DEA’s Fentanyl Drug Fact Sheet.

Mazzochi was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018 and is facing Democrat incumbent, Jean Douglass, in the November general election. A Republican, her legislative experience includes serving on the Housing Committee and Judiciary-Civil — whose party’s Republican Illinois gubernatorial candidate made headlines for controversial comments. Mazzochi is a state representative who resides in Elmhurst, according to the Illinois Hous.