Dupage Policy Journal

The fentanyl crisis in Chicago has reached drastic new proportions, according to former Illinois state representative Jeane Ives. 

"It's time to tell the whole story about the fentanyl crisis and the lack of response from Democrats," Ives said.

Recently, law enforcement officials at Midway airport in Chicago arrested two men and confiscated the 44 pounds of fentanyl they were carrying in their checked baggage, CWB Chicago reported. The total amount of drugs had a street value of around $3.1 million, and since two milligrams of the substance is considered a lethal dosage, the amount they were carrying could kill every resident of Chicago three times over, and then some, the story stated.

It went on to state that fentanyl is often mixed into other drug substances either to increase the high or cut some corners for the suppliers. Because of the minimal amount needed to cause an overdose in users, it can be traced to the enormous rise in opioid-related deaths, which show a 750% increase since 2015, CWB reported. Often users do not even know that the drug has been mixed into their supply and take a dosage that they have done before with no ill effects, only to end up in the hospital or morgue.                

The two men from Michigan, Jamire Holingshed, 26, and Robert Lewis, 24, were the subject of a DEA investigation when they learned they might be carrying drugs as they traveled from Los Angeles to Midway. When they flew the same trip again, agents intercepted them after drug dogs had searched their baggage. The men gave the officers permission to search their luggage, in which they found a brick of fentanyl each wrapped in green plastic and stuffed in clothing. Judge Maryam Ahmad set their bail at over $1.5 million each, and will not allow them to return to Michigan until their trial, CWB reported.

Ives has been fighting against the worsening fentanyl crisis and the lack of action by the legislature for years. She has worked against other law makers such as U.S. Rep. Sean Casten who have voted repeatedly to continue decriminalizing the possession of fentanyl and making it harder to prosecute dealers. His reasoning is that he believes they should be spending their time and energy finding ways to aid addicts instead of putting them in jail and eventually releasing them to use again, the DuPage Chronicle reported.    

 “Just two years ago, 61 House Democrats voted to decriminalize possession of enough fentanyl to kill 1,500 people,” Ives told the DuPage Chronicle.  

“The complete disregard to public safety such a bill presents, was never brought up by the media during last year's campaigns either," said Ives. " Now eight state representatives that voted to make it easier to get fentanyl by protecting drug pushers are sponsors of SB2223, a bill to overhaul drug education in K-12 schools in Illinois. So Democrats can't decide if Fentanyl is a menace or not.”