An Elgin student attending the Illinois Math and Science Academy 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.
If approved, the legislation also would require libraries to always have at least one staff member working who is trained on responding to an overdose situation.
Jordan Henry, an 18-year-old senior, said she became interested in substance abuse issues 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.
She started volunteering with local nonprofits 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 like naloxone, 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.
Henry connected with state Rep. Anna Moeller, D-Elgin, through her mother, whom she met when the legislator came to Henry’s home collecting ballot signatures to run for reelection. Henry also was a classmate of Moeller’s daughter when they both attended Elgin High School prior to Henry transferring to IMSA in Aurora.
Moeller said Henry presented her with the research she’d done, including having found similar library-based naloxone programs in other places around the country. Henry demonstrated her “follow-through and her maturity,” Moeller said, which prompted her to agree to work with her 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 possible locations to have it on hand.
“When you think about it, a library is a great place to have this available,” she 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.”
While House Bill 1910 does not provide for funding from the state, 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 it, alternative sources would be found, Moeller said.
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.”
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.
Despite the statewide decrease in opioid deaths, Henry noted the problem is not yet under control and people in her community are still dying from overdoses. According to IDPH’s Opioid Data Dashboard, about 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.
