Dold plans national speech on heroin crisis as campaign gets underway

U.S. Rep. Bob Dold is scheduled to discuss his efforts to slow the heroin crisis on Republicans' weekly national broadcast address.

"I've seen firsthand the unimaginable suffering that heroin has brought onto families in our community and around the country," the Kenilworth Republican said in a statement.

In the address made available to TV and radio stations across the country tomorrow, Dold plans to talk about legislation he's sponsored, including Lali's Law, which makes the overdose antidote naloxone more widely available throughout the country.

The law was named after Alex Laliberte, a Buffalo Grove resident who died of a heroin overdose in 2008.

Stations decide when to air the speech, and it will be available after 5 a.m. today at www.speaker.gov.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan chose Dold to give the widely broadcast speech just weeks after former U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider, a Democrat, won the nomination to face him in the general election for a third time in a row.

Schneider raised more money than Dold in the first quarter of this year, with $818,000 in contributions to Dold's $730,000.

Schneider held the North suburban 10th Congressional District seat after the 2012 election until the 2014 race, when Dold defeated him.