How candidates would face suburban drug crisis

Editor's note: This story originally ran on March 7, 2002 as part of the Daily Herald's "Hidden Scourge: Heroin in the Suburbs" series.

Republican governor candidate Patrick O'Malley believes anyone harmed by the sale and use of drugs or alcohol to minors should be allowed to sue for money damages in civil court.

A state senator from Palos Park, O'Malley supports a legislative proposal that would allow such civil lawsuits in Illinois.

"We're going to create a civil liability opportunity for people who are damaged as a result of this activity, including the young person, but including anybody the young person might hurt, and including the family of that young person," he said. "It's a powerful initiative to go after those people who are the perpetrators of peddling these kinds of drugs and alcohol within our community."

Asked about the deadly heroin and club drug abuse detailed in the ongoing Daily Herald series, "The Hidden Scourge," the other five governor GOP and Democratic candidates all said they believe more state funds should be directed toward addiction treatment programs and anti-drug education efforts.

The series detailed growing drug use that has led to the deaths of at least 18 Northwest and West suburban teens and young adults in the last 26 months as well as ideas for solutions.

Both Republican Jim Ryan of Elmhurst and Democrat Paul Vallas of Chicago said drug abuse should be dealt with more as a public health threat than simply as a criminal concern.

"We're not anywhere near where we need to be," said Attorney General Ryan. "Drug abuse among children and students is a huge problem. ...That does require more money for treatment and more money for counselors,... getting parents more involved with their kids."

Vallas, the former Chicago Public Schools CEO, said, "The drug problem is indeed a serious health care problem" that should be considered in sentencing for users and in changes in programs in schools and correctional centers.

"You've got to really begin to look at alternatives to incarceration, particularly for many juveniles," he said. "We've got to identify what the child's problem is and we've got to begin to address it whether it's drug addiction, a mental health problem, a severe learning disability. Simply incarcerating that child and then releasing that child back to the community some months later, or back to their own school does not necessarily solve the problem."

'Three-legged stool'

Former Democratic Attorney General Roland Burris of Chicago and current Lt. Gov. Corinne Wood of Lake Forest agreed.

"It's a three-legged stool," former attorney general Roland Burris said. "It's education, it's treatment and it's incarceration. And all we're trying to do is incarceration."

Prisons are overflowing with first-time drug offenders and hospitals need help providing enough treatment for all the addicts, he said.

Also speaking about drug offenders in prison, Wood said, "You should be asking yourself why they're there in the first place. Putting them behind closed doors isn't necessarily going to solve the issue of substance abuse."

She said she believes some level of increased funding should go to community-based treatment and prevention organizations. "I think that's where they can most likely have the greatest impact rather than sending someone up from a state drug agency," she said.

O'Malley, though, said he believes "we have provided a lot of resources in this area." He said the legislation he supports to allow civil damage suits will send a strong message: "You fool around with our kids you're going to pay a very severe penalty in the state of Illinois."

Crop programs

While most candidates focused on beefing up treatment and education funding, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, a Chicago congressman, also noted he supports policies to encourage farmers in foreign lands to produce products other than opium and coca.

"I think crop alternative programs work," he said. "I think we have to put more of our resources into going after these banks that launder drug money," he added, noting that idea falls more into the realm of federal law enforcement.

Both Blagojevich and Burris said they would use the power of the governor's office to speak out to parents and teens about drug abuse because money and legislation alone will not solve the problem.

"In our affluent suburban communities, you really wonder where the parents are in these situations," Burris said. "And you cannot legislate parental behavior and control. You have to use the bully pulpit to say, 'Parents: know what your children are doing.'"

But Ryan said he knows first-hand from dealing with his own teen-agers how difficult it can be to communicate with them. He said he was struck at the prevalence of problems and family dysfunction teens face when he attended a "listening conference" for state attorneys general in Arizona that featured stories from an auditorium of teens.

"I'm not really entirely sure we're it fits," Ryan said, "but, clearly, parents have to get more involved and we have to treat it more as a threat to children's health more than a crime. I'm not talking about people in the business of selling. I'm talking more about people that are abusing and it's so sad when that happens for parents to see their kids addicted."