09/02/2026
Addiction has touched far too many families in our Black and Brown communities. On International Overdose Awareness Day, we remember those we’ve lost, support those in recovery, and recommit to prevention, treatment, compassion, and accountability.
Every life is worth saving.
Today, on International Overdose Awareness Day, I am thinking about the lives we have lost, the families who carry that loss, and the people still fighting every day for recovery.
This issue is deeply personal to the communities I represent. For years, I have worked alongside the West Side Heroin/Opioid Task Force, treatment providers, first responders, families, people in recovery, and community organizations confronting this crisis where it is actually happening.
I have seen what saves lives. Prevention matters. Treatment matters. Naloxone matters. Harm reduction matters. Recovery services matter. And making sure people can get healthcare when they need it matters.
Overdose deaths are falling nationally. That is progress worth recognizing. But progress is not permission to pull back.
In Congress, I intend to continue the work I have been doing here at home. I will fight to protect Medicaid and access to treatment, strengthen prevention and recovery programs, support communities confronting fentanyl and opioid addiction, and make sure federal resources reach the people and organizations doing this work every day.
We can be tough on the illegal drugs entering our communities while also having compassion for the people struggling with addiction. These are not competing priorities. We have to do both.
I have carried this fight on Chicago’s West Side for years. I am ready to carry it to Washington.
Every life is worth saving.
