Illinois Now Has Blueprint for K-12 Schools to Teach Dangers of Overdose

This article was originally published in Capitol News Illinois.

Illinois public schools wishing to teach their students about the dangers of overdoses and substance use disorder now have a blueprint to do so from the state.

The Illinois State Board of Education published the resource guides in accordance with a law passed in 2023. While a school’s use of any of the state’s resource guides is voluntary, some public health advocates consider the creation of the guides a step in the right direction. Administrators and educators can download age-appropriate presentations, lesson plans or fact sheets.

Various courses developed by universities, nonprofits and federal agencies provide options for curricula about what prescription drugs are, the science of drug interactions, harm reduction, and how to manage medication alongside mental health struggles. Complexity increases with age; high school resources include lessons on different classes of drugs.

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Some links connect to materials or videos from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a “virtual field trip” produced by the Drug Enforcement Administration .

One resource referenced multiple times in the guides, Generation RX , was developed in part by Cardinal Health, a pharmaceutical distributor who paid out part of a $26 billion settlement with 45 states, including Illinois , in 2022.

Overdose remains a leading cause of accidental death in the state and across the country, something not lost on the various public health organizations that supported the legislation to create the guides. The Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition, an advocacy network of organizations and individuals dedicated to harm reduction , released a statement praising ISBE and the Department of Human Services for their work but said there was a “lack of opportunities” for more involvement from community members.

During 2022 – the most recent year with comparable data – more than 3,800 people died of an overdose in Illinois, while almost 1,800 were killed by firearms, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That same year, more than 1,250 people in Illinois died due to a traffic accident, according to the Illinois Department of Transportation.

The law requiring the guides passed the House and the Senate unanimously. It’s known as Louie’s Law in honor of Louie Miceli, who died of an overdose in 2012 at 24 years old.

Felicia Miceli, Louie’s mother, said he was first exposed to opioids at age 17 following a high school football injury.

“We know this guidance will equip communities with vital information, tools, and resources,” Miceli said in a news release for the coalition . “But only if they know about it and have an implementation plan.”

The Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition and the LTM Heroin Awareness and Support Foundation – which Miceli started in honor of her son – released a statement celebrating the “first-of-its-kind” guides but also said the process could have benefitted from including more perspectives while crafting various guides.

“The organizations are concerned about the lack of opportunities for broader stakeholder involvement in the guidelines’ development, including the primary target audiences (and) marginalized groups,” the release reads.

Last year, 30 teenagers in Cook County died due to drug toxicity, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office .

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.