Leaders call for more action on Heroin Abuse Awareness Day

You don't take heroin. Heroin takes you.

It's just one of many messages officials familiar with the drug said they wanted to convey to the public during a news conference Wednesday at the Robert Crown Center for Health Education in Hinsdale to mark the state's inaugural Heroin Abuse Awareness Day.

"People need to know that decision (to take heroin) can be a deadly decision. It's not experimental," DuPage County Board Chairman Dan Cronin said. "This battle is far from over. Our fight against heroin continues each day."

Two state representatives, Hinsdale Republican Patti Bellock and Skokie Democrat Lou Lang, explained the significance of the passage of a comprehensive heroin bill in Springfield earlier this year. Lang said of the more than 60 bills Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed this year, it was the only one where his veto was overridden.

"Now what does that tell you? That tells you that the work you are all doing to try to create awareness ... is starting to work," he said, adding that the bill was well-supported on both sides of the aisle, and passed unanimously through the House on the first try.

Bellock, who sponsored the resolution to create a statewide Heroin Abuse Awareness Day, recalled that one of the first task force meetings she attended after signing on to help with the heroin problem was titled "Heroin: The Suburban Secret."

"It's no longer a secret in our county or in our state," she said. "We have faced it."

The bill has many provisions that will be rolled out over the next few years, including equipping more first responders with naloxone, a heroin antidote; introducing heroin prevention education in more schools; and giving more addicts a chance to try treatment instead of going to jail.

"I do not look at it as the end product," Lang said. "I look at it as an excellent starting off point for the General Assembly and local communities and local providers like Robert Crown to do more, to come up with new and innovative ideas to save lives."

But challenges still exist. Bellock and Lang said more needs to be done to improve access to treatment, prevent doctors from overprescribing opioids and stop heroin from getting transported into the Chicago area.

Lang stressed that people need to "not be silent" on the issue. And Robert Crown Center Chief Executive Officer R.J. McMahon said he believes the biggest hurdle is the stigma surrounding the drug.

"If we acknowledge the problem ... then it becomes very real, and that's very important that it becomes real," he said. "It's a huge hurdle to overcome."

McMahon added that the heroin epidemic is a "community issue" and the responsibility to combat it is "all of ours."

Roger Hruby lost his grandson to a heroin overdose eight years ago and vowed to do something that would save even just one life. He provided funding for the creation of the Robert Crown Center Heroin Prevention Program, which is now in schools throughout the suburbs.

"I'm just so pleased and thankful that Robert Crown took it on," he said. "I think we are increasing the knowledge of heroin addiction in our communities, but we've got a long way to go."

Cronin said he still encounters districts that are apprehensive to allow the program in their schools.

"Talk to your school board members, talk to your principals and superintendents and just say, 'Look, an acknowledgment that it's a problem doesn't promote the problem.' On the contrary, acknowledgment of a problem is the first step in preventing or solving the problem," he said.

Lang agreed, saying that he feels any district that refuses to offer a heroin prevention program is being "irresponsible."

"We need parents to be more aware," he said. "Parents need to demand these programs, not just us."