The Non-Prosecution, Easy, Illegal Drug Culture,Another Problem Setting Illinois Apart
Fentanyl is produced in China and transported to the U.S. by Mexican drug cartels. No amount of Fentanyl is safe, yet HB3447 now classifies the possession of up to 3gm of Fentanyl as a misdemeanor. That's more than enough Fentanyl to kill approximately. 1500 people!
According to a Washington Examiner article, fiscal year 2021 (October 2020-September 2021), US Customs and Border Protection seized 11,201 pounds of fentanyl. Experts “estimate one kilogram of fentanyl is equivalent to 500,000 lethal doses, making last year's seizure equal to 2.5 billion fatal doses….”
Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health, said, "Only a very small concentration of fentanyl is needed in order to produce a high. So, this makes it much easier to bring fentanyl across the border — in smaller, but more potent, quantities than other drugs," Volkow wrote in an email.
The article went on to say, “…fentanyl smuggling is particularly noteworthy because it is highly addictive, far more expensive per gram than other drugs, and a top cause of drug overdose deaths nationwide.”
Last year, the US set a record of over 105,000 overdose deaths, most of them involving fentanyl.
Closer to home, Illinois saw 3013 overdose deaths, mostly from Fentanyl which is laced onto other drugs.
In DuPage County, 138 people died of an overdose last year; 130 were fentanyl-related. That’s about four times higher than a decade ago.
Ask any politician, and they will say we must do more to prevent drug overdoses. But then watch what the politicians actually do about it.
Last year, a majority of Democrats in the Illinois House voted to lower the penalty for fentanyl possession to a misdemeanor. Current law is that possession of one gram of fentanyl is a felony. This new law would allow misdemeanor possession of up to 3 grams of fentanyl.
One gram of fentanyl can kill 500 people, so 3 grams of fentanyl could wipe out an entire high school. That is no small possession; that’s a dealer amount.
And 61 Democrats voted for the bill, including suburban legislator Deb Conroy who wants to be DuPage County Chairman; she both sponsored and voted for the bill.
HB3447 is still alive and in the Illinois Senate. A number of Democrats signed on as sponsors just last month in August! One of them is West Chicago Democrat Karina Villa.
These legislators are dangerous! Instead of locking up illegal drug pushers, they are making it easier for them to escape penalties. Anyone working in this area will say that the open border allows illegal drugs to flood into the country and that nearly every overdose is Fentanyl related. Instead of letting these cartel members off easy, penalties should be enhanced.
I can’t tell you whom I got this from, but here’s what a frontline Prosecutor in Cook County says about this bill, HB3447:
"This bill is truly concerning. It is bad enough that the Manufacture/Delivery/Possession with Intent to Deliver under 570 ILCS 570/401 as you indicated (heroin and fentanyl go from 1 gram to 3 grams, cocaine goes from 1 gram to 5 grams (!)) while making lower amounts a Class 4 felony. Still, I cannot believe it makes Possession of a Controlled Substance (570/402 - currently a felony for all amounts) a Class A misdemeanor if the person possesses less than 3 grams of heroin, fentanyl, PCP, and meth, and less than 5 grams of cocaine!!!
This does essentially decriminalize these drugs for the vast majority of people who use them. The misdemeanor courts (run by the newest, most inexperienced prosecutors) will be overrun with these drug cases, and as a result, most cases will be dismissed or diverted. Drug dealers will just make sure they don't have more than 3 grams of heroin or 5 grams of cocaine in small packets in a baggie when they are selling and will just replenish when needed. Police will not have narcotics officers when most of their time will be spent chasing misdemeanor amounts. This will make street gangs larger and more prosperous, and the Heroin Highway (Eisenhower Expressway) will be filled with suburbanites coming to the west side for their fix.
Just when I thought this state couldn't get any worse. You have to make this a campaign issue. I don't know if you can afford a commercial, but one that speaks to the fentanyl aspect alone would be devastating. A billboard would be great as well."
So here’s yet another law, HB3477, passed by Democrats in the House, and fortunately stalled in the Senate, that prosecutors completely disagree with just like the Safe-T Act.
Below is a link to my podcast with Dr. Richard Jorgensen, DuPage County Coroner – a very informative conversation. He discusses the overdose casualties in DuPage and explains what other even more harmful drugs are showing up in the Fentanyl family.
What can you do? Be Informed and Inform Others. Check out our new website and look at our “Hot Bills” section. Not all links have been uploaded yet; the information on HB3447 is complete. Look to see if your state representative voted for it or not. Or, like Terra Costa Howard from Glen Ellyn, she didn’t vote at all. She was virtue signaling to her progressive caucus instead of shutting down a bad, so she cowardly didn’t vote on the bill. Someone should ask her about this bill.
Here is a link on our website information on HB3447: HB 3447 | Breakthrough Ideas (breakthrough-ideas.com)
Here is more information on Fentanyl that I found helpful. Illinois residents are dying of fentanyl overdoses. Here's what the state is doing (theintelligencer.com)