I lost my twin brother Matt to a drug overdose in 2015. Matt Stefani was an avid reader, a musician, a loyal friend, and a contributing member of society. Not an “addict” or another statistic, but a human being who deserved life-saving, evidence-based help that he did not receive because criminalizing drugs costs lives.
Recently, Illinois House Minority Leader Jim Durkin attacked two suburban legislators for supporting a bill to reclassify the penalty for small-scale drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor, calling their votes “a slap in the face” to families who have lost loved ones to drug overdoses and urging voters to support their opponents.
