High school student writes bill to prevent opioid deaths

A high school student wrote legislation that could save lives in Illinois. The bill, which has passed both the House and Senate and is awaiting Gov. JB Pritzker’s signature to become law, would require all public libraries in Illinois to carry naloxone, which saves people during opioid overdoses. 

Her bill also calls for library staff members to be trained in how to recognize an opioid overdose and how to use the medicine. At least one trained staff member would have to be working at the library during all hours when the library is open. Naloxone is an opioid antagonist, meaning that if someone is having an opioid overdose, the medicine would be able to save their lives. Naloxone is harmless if administered to someone not having an opioid overdose, so it is a low-risk program if the bill becomes law. 

 According to the Illinois Department of Public Health, in 2022 there were well over 3,200 deaths in Illinois caused by opioid overdoses. The bill aims to reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths by keeping this medicine in a library, a public place. If someone is having an opioid overdose in a library, or its vicinity, or at a library-run event, people could rush to get naloxone and the trained employee at the library and help save the person in danger.

House Bill 1910 was the idea of Jordan Henry, a high school senior from Elgin. Henry, a student at Illinois Math and Science Academy, got the idea for the bill after learning that Chicago’s libraries already had naloxone in them because of an agreement they made with the Chicago Department of Public Health. In 2022, her sophomore year in high school, she started doing lots of research on naloxone and other methods of keeping drug users safe, such as fentanyl testing strips. Originally, she just wanted to implement naloxone in her local library. But after getting in contact with State Representative Anna Moeller, a member of the House public health committee, she realized that she could help people all over Illinois by turning her idea into legislation.

 “Doing my research beforehand helped with drafting the bill faster because I already knew important details, like where the funding was coming from,” Henry said in an interview with Illinois Times. She started drafting the bill in December 2024, right before bills were introduced in January. Henry was able to finish the bill in a few weeks with the help of Rep. Moeller’s legal team. 

The system in the Chicago libraries where Henry drew inspiration is different from what will be implemented should the bill be signed into law. In Chicago, anyone can grab and use the medicine, while the legislation stipulates that the trained library staff member must be the one to use the medication. This is to make sure that the people who are going to be administering the medicine are not at risk of accidentally hurting the person in danger.

Moeller first got the chance in January to present Henry’s idea as a bill to the Illinois House, where it won approval in April. It was unanimously approved by the Senate May 21. Henry attributes much of her success with this bill to people before her advocating more access to opioid antagonists. “The only reason that this bill was so well received in the House and Senate is because of the advocacy of harm reductionists who have been fighting long before me,” she wrote to Illinois Times. She said that at one point it was illegal to even give out naloxone outside of an emergency room. She is thankful for the change and all the people and organizations that fought for it. Now all the bill needs is to be signed by the governor to become law. All thanks to a high school senior who wanted to help her community.

This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2025.