North Cook News

Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst) has filed a bill to impose stricter penalties for trafficking fentanyl and distributing the deadly drug in products targeted toward young individuals.

“Our legislation will allow our state’s attorneys to [be] able to change the amounts down to more aggressively pursue people who are dealing in lethal amounts,” Mazzochi told the North Cook News this week. “We should not be making it easier for deadly fentanyl dealers to push and possess and traffic lethal doses. Now is not the time to be relaxing restrictions on the possession and distribution of fentanyl and its analogs. We should be cracking down harder on it.”

House Bill 5808 was introduced on Sept. 21 and is cosponsored by Reps. Chris Bos (R-Lake Zurich), Keith Wheeler (R-Oswego), Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield), Martin McLaughlin (R-Barrington Hills), Dan Ugaste (R-Geneva), Steven Reick (R-Woodstock), Seth Lewis (R-Bartlett), Bradley Stephens (R-Chicago) and Jackie Haas (R-Kankakee).

The bill would criminalize more potent analogs that may not have the identical chemical structure of fentanyl and penalize dealers for hiding fentanyl in FDA-approved prescription drugs and products that would attract children, such as candy and gummies.

Additionally, the proposed legislation amends the Illinois Controlled Substances Act and “provides that if a controlled substance analog is at least 5 times as potent as the controlled substance of which it is an analog, then the weight of the controlled substance analog for purposes of the Act shall be deemed to be the weight of the controlled substance analog multiplied by the increase in potency,” the synopsis said.

Mazzochi resides in Elmhurst and was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018, the Illinois General Assembly website said. She has served on the Judiciary - Civil, Judiciary - Criminal, Prescription Drug Affordability, and Child Care Access & Early Childhood committees.