SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) — State lawmakers have passed a plan to improve drug overdose education standards in K-12 schools to help students understand substance use and overdose trends.

The bill will require education on the history of drugs and health policy in Illinois and the United States, the impact of zero tolerance, and restorative justice practices. 

House and Senate Democrats filed the bill in memory of Louie Miceli who died from an overdose in 2012. Louie’s mother and other advocates say young people haven’t properly learned about healthy coping mechanisms, the truth about drugs, or potential risks they could face.

The Illinois State Board of Education would be required to collaborate with the Department of Human Services, Department of Child and Family Services, Department of Public Health, and the Illinois Opioid Crisis Response Advisory Council to improve the health education standards by July 1, 2024.

“It will be the first of its kind in the nation,” Rep. Joyce Mason (D-Gurnee) said Friday. It will educate our youth and it will save lives. So, I ask for an aye vote in honor of Louie Miceli and the many others who have died during this epidemic.”

High school students will have the opportunity to learn how to recognize an overdose, use fentanyl test strips, and administer Naloxone. 

Alicia Miceli now works as a grief counselor helping families going through the same traumatic experience she did.

“Once a month, there’s new families walking in with that look on their face due to their children dying from overdoses with fentanyl and xylazine in them and again saying, ‘I wish my child was properly education. I wish that I was properly educated,'” Miceli explained last month.

Senate Bill 2223 passed unanimously out of the House Friday. It previously received unanimous approve in the Senate on March 30.

Louie’s Law now moves to Gov. JB Pritzker’s desk for his signature of approval.

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