Kane County Reporter

Illinois state Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore) is pushing for legislation aimed at addressing the growing fentanyl crisis currently plaguing the state.

Keicher is co-sponsoring House Bill HB3203, legislation that would allow pharmacists and retailers to sell over-the-counter fentanyl test strips to the public to test for the presence of fentanyl, a fentanyl analog or a drug adulterant within a controlled substance; a recent news release from the representative said. 

“Making Fentanyl strips readily available for purchase will ensure that our loved ones, our community members, and those that are seeking relief are able to be here and hopefully one day find their relief through the proper mechanisms,” Keicher said in the release.

HB3203 is part of a larger public safety initiative supported by Keicher to address issues currently affecting the health, well-being and safety of communities across the state. 

“I don’t want to have any spouse, sibling, child, or cousin to have to encounter their loved one dying from Fentanyl,” Keicher said. “This legislation is critical to the protection of our people on the front end before we have death or before we have a tragedy. Life circumstance often puts people in a position where they think this is the avenue and this is a solution. But many times they’re seeking that high or to maintain their ability to not go through withdrawal.”

Keicher previously criticized the passage of House Bill 3447, which would defelonize possession of hard drugs, including fentanyl, reducing the penalty for such offenses and allowing prior convictions of those offenses to be expunged.

“This bill has many holes and is a tragic mistake that will be exploited by drug dealers and accelerate the proliferation of hard drugs in communities across Illinois at the expense of those recovered from drug addiction," Keicher said in a 2021 statement. "For too long we have over-criminalized those addicted to certain drugs and not recognized the personal vulnerability the addiction creates. Wiping clean the felony convictions of drug dealers, instead of addressing those addicted, gives those dealers a glide path to stay on the streets and profit by targeting impressionable youth and adult addicts struggling to stay clean."

House Bill HB3203 passed unanimously out of committee and will now move forward for further consideration by the Illinois House of Representatives.