On January 27, 2020, Illinois Gov. Pritzker signed Executive Order 2020-02 to better address racial disparities in responding to the opioid crisis. This effort is in addition to the $4.1 million state dollars designated to expand recovery and prevention services for individuals with opioid use disorder in all corners of the state.
Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that nationally, opioid deaths declined by 4.1% in 2018. Illinois also saw the first decrease in five years in opioid overdose deaths in 2018. However, despite this decrease, opioid overdose deaths among white residents in Illinois decreased 7% in 2018 while deaths among African Americans increased 9.1% and deaths among Latinos increased by 4.3%.

In response to these findings, the Governor’s Office in conjunction with the state’s Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council will create an Opioid Social Equity Committee to make policy recommendations regarding how to address social and racial disparities in the opioid crisis response. They will also establish local recovery-oriented systems of care councils in communities that have been disproportionately impacted by the crisis in order to reach out to and engage individuals in all stages of recovery.

Last year, Pritzker signed the Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Act which also focuses on harm reduction and allows for the establishment and operation of a needle and hypodermic syringe access program or syringe services programs to help prevent the spread of infection and disease. This executive order will direct an additional $500,000 to syringe services programs.  Resources will also be directed toward medication assisted treatment (MAT) programs and overdose prevention initiatives.

Additional information:
National data is available from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Information about activities related to this executive order is available from Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council
If you are interested in joining the council or one of the committees, please contact Brian Pacwa at brian.pacwa@illinois.gov.