Louie’s Law, also known as the Illinois Youth Education and Drug Overdose Prevention Act, was passed in July of 2023 as a guide rather than a mandate. The law is named for Louie Miceli, who died from a drug overdose in 2012. His mother’s hope was that these reforms would allow young people to make more informed decisions and position themselves to save others’ lives. Louie’s Law, therefore, adds risk mitigation and harm reduction efforts to the state’s current guidelines for drug education.
Louie’s Law stipulates that the State Board of Education has until July 2024 to make optional drug curricula available to K-12 schools statewide. The original bill was co-authored by Chelsea Laliberte-Barnes, co-chair of the Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition, along with Kyra Jagondznski, the IHRRC’s coordinator who was 18 at the time of its writing. Young people, along with those with lived substance use disorder and overdose experiences, were critical to the design of these standards. Stigma and punitive actions in place of comprehensive treatment negatively impact people’s and family’s access to harm reduction services and the necessary resources to improve outcomes. The U.S.’s criminalization of substance use and addiction over the last 40 years has done nothing to reduce the nearly 100,000 widely preventable overdose deaths that occur annually (CDC, 2023). Additionally, drug prevention programming, such as the “Just Say No” campaign and D.A.R.E, have been relatively ineffective at preventing addiction and overdose (West and O’Neal, 2004). The development of Illinois’s comprehensive, evidence-based programming under Louie’s Law will improve outcomes.
Adverse childhood experiences such as poverty, abuse, loss of caregiver, and other traumas put a child at greater risk of addiction and greatly influence the age of first use. The younger someone is when they use drugs and alcohol the more likely they will develop a substance use disorder. 90% of people who have a substance use disorder began using before they were 18 (CDC, 2023). Protective factors like stress management, parent connectedness, school involvement, and family engagement help to reduce the impact of risk factors (CDC, Sept. 2022). Louie’s Law helps create a pathway to reduce these risks while sharing evidence-based information with young people in their schools and communities. Louie’s law seeks to reduce the above-mentioned risk factors while promoting protective factors associated with youth substance use.
Over 60% of teenagers report using drugs regularly and overdose deaths amongst 13–17-year-olds are on the rise (IHRRC & Rep. Ford, 2022). The CDC reports that adolescent substance users experience higher rates of sexual risk behavior, dating violence, mental health disorders and suicide (CDC, 2020). Between 2019 and 2021 there has been a 60% increase in overdose deaths among the 14–18-year-old demographic alone (IHRRC, Press Conference, 2022). Learning about harm reduction, like how to identify an overdose and use Narcan to reverse one, does not increase a child’s chance of using, but rather if they choose to use or associate with others who do, they can save a life.
Supporters of comprehensive education recognize that these life-saving strategies are paramount, but also that the costs associated with each emergency response are estimated to be $30,000-$40,000, roughly 100 million dollars annually (IHHRC & Rep. Ford, 2022). Reality-based, data-driven, scientifically-informed programming as outlined in Louie’s Law will help save both lives and money.
Written by: Helen Baker – Health Educator
References:
IHRRC and Representative Ford Press Conference (The Impact of Fentanyl on Communities Across Illinois), December 1, 2022. https://www.illinoisharmreduction.org/
Fowler JS, Volkow ND, Kassed CA, Chang L. Imaging the addicted human brain. Sci Pract Perspect 3(2):4-16, 2007.
West SL, O’Neal KK. Project D.A.R.E. outcome effectiveness revisited. Am J Public Health. 2004 Jun;94(6):1027-9. doi: 10.2105/ajph.94.6.1027. PMID: 15249310; PMCID: PMC1448384.
S.B. 2223, P.A. 103-0399, Louie’s Law, (Ill. 2023) https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts
https://www.illinoisharmreduction.org/louieslaw
https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/deaths
NIDA. 2023, March 23. Preventing Drug Misuse and Addiction: The Best Strategy. https://nida.nih.gov/publications/drugs-brains-behavior-science-addiction/preventing-drug-misuse-addiction-best-strategy
https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/substance-use/index.htm
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Surgeon General, Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Washington, DC: HHS, November 2016.