Office of the City Clerk - Record #: R2015-701

• Record #: R2015-701
• Type: Resolution
• Status: Adopted
• Intro date: 9/24/2015
• Final action: 9/24/2015
• Title: Call for establishment of advisory task force entitled "Chicago Task Force Against Heroin"
• Sponsors: Burke, Edward M., Dowell, Pat, Hairston, Leslie A., Cardenas, George A., Willie B. Cochran, Reboyras, Ariel, Mitts, Emma, Beale, Anthony, Ervin, Jason C.

Date	Journal Page Number	Action By	Action	Result
9/24/2015		City Council	Rules Suspended - Immediate Consideration
9/24/2015	8214	City Council	Adopted	Pass

RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, The City of Chicago is a home rule unit of government pursuant to the 1970 Illinois Constitution, Article VII, Section 6 (a); and

WHEREAS, Pursuant to its home rule power, the City of Chicago may exercise any power and perform any function relating to its government and affairs including the power to regulate for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and

WHEREAS, The City Council of the City of Chicago hereby finds that the City of Chicago must take immediate action to address the heroin crisis in Chicago; and

WHEREAS, Heroin-related overdose deaths have quadrupled in the United States in the past decade; and
WHEREAS, Nationwide, the number of people who admitted using heroin within the past year nearly doubled between 2007 and 2013 to 681,000; and

WHEREAS, Heroin overdose deaths have been on the rise statewide since 2011, according to Illinois Department of Public Health; Last year, 633 heroin overdose deaths occurred statewide, up from 583 in 2013; and

WHEREAS, In 2013, heroin accounted for 224 of the 337 total opioid-linked deaths in Cook County; and

WHEREAS, According to a report published by the Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy at Roosevelt University, in 2011, hospitals in the Chicago Metropolitan Area witnessed more heroin-related emergency room visits than any other city in the country; and

WHEREAS, According to the Arrestee Drug Use Monitoring Program, Cook County ranked first in the nation for heroin use among arrestees in 2011, arrestees from Cook County self-reported using heroin more times per month and reported using heroin in the prior three days more than those from any other area, and arrestees from Chicago tested positive for opiates including heroin at a rate that is 18.5% higher than any other city in the nation; and

WHEREAS, In the Chicago area, those entering into publicly funded treatment for heroin in 2012 represented 35 percent of treatment admissions, more than double the national a...