Prairie State Wire

Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) is excoriating House Democrat sponsor for passing a bill the would decriminalize hard drugs like cocaine, fentanyl and heroin.

Durkin’s eye fell on the bill’s sponsors Rep. Anne Stava-Murray (D-Downers Grove) and state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr (D-Naperville).

“The Illinois Democratic Party has left DuPage values far behind. House Bill 3447, a narcotics decriminalization bill, passed the House with 61 Democrat votes this spring but thankfully stalled in the Senate,” Durkin, a state representative, said in a statement. “One of the sponsors, Rep. Stava-Murray, championed this idea of decriminalizing the possession of heroin, crack, meth and fentanyl. Rep. Yang Rohr agreed with Stava-Murray and voted in favor. Since 2020, there have been 26 heroin and fentanyl overdose deaths in Naperville, 18 in Downers Grove and 14 in Lisle. Stava-Murray and Yang Rohr should publicly apologize for their vote.”  

Durkin said DuPage voters have a choice this election cycle.

“They can choose Democrats like Stava-Murray and Yang Rohr and their disastrous soft-on-crime policies, or they can choose House Republican candidates like Paul Leong and Rich Janor that are focused on restoring law and order and public safety to our communities,” he said.

In April, House Bill 3447 fell short in the Senate after it passed the House in a 61-47 vote, The Center Square reported.

HB 3447 would allow for the those to be only fined if caught with less than 15 grams of cocaine, four grams of morphine, 50 grams of peyote, 50 grams of barbituates, 200 grams of methamphetamine, 15 grams of LSD, 30 grams of pentazocine, 10 grams of methaqualone, 10 grams of PCP, 10 grams of ketamine, 100 grams of codeine-based drugs and 100 grams of oxycodone.

The penalties will be increased for those possessing 200 grams or more of fentanyl and LSD.

According to the Drug Enforcement Agency, fentanyl is 20 times more potent that heroin, one gram is enough to kill 500 users through overdose deaths. Two-hundred grams is enough to cause 100,000 overdose deaths.