High school student confronted loss by working for state legislation on fentanyl education

NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- Lelia Peradotti learned about fentanyl while she was baking cookies.

She still remembers that phone call from her mother, Susan Peradotti, who was in shock after she walked into her partner’s apartment to find him slumped over the kitchen sink next to a hot stove, a cold spoon and a white powder. A coroner’s report reviewed by Susan Peradotti found the synthetic opioid known as fentanyl in his system.

“I just think that if I knew more about (fentanyl), I would know how to help my family and help my mom out,” said Lelia, who was a Naperville Central High School sophomore when Susan’s partner overdosed. “When I learned more about it, I was really surprised that I was not taught this in school.”

For the last two years, she has been studying fentanyl whenever she was in a class that gave her freedom to investigate a topic of her interest, and in her senior year she took a humanities course focused on achieving measurable results on an issue. What she learned about fentanyl and how she put it to use contributed to two bills passed by Illinois lawmakers this spring aimed at educating high school students about fentanyl and preventing tragic outcomes for those using it.

One bill requires high schools to “provide instruction, study and discussion on the dangers of fentanyl” beginning with the 2024-25 school year. The other requires all schools to maintain a supply of opioid antagonists, including Narcan or naloxone. Both bills passed legislative chambers without any “nay” votes and are on the desk of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, whose office said he will review them.

“(Lelia) really thought about if it was up to her, what should every student in our state know about fentanyl in order to protect themselves and protect other people in the community,” said Seth Brady, a social science teacher at Naperville Central who taught Lelia’s humanities course.

Lelia learned all she could about the synthetic opioid that accounts for a large portion of the roughly 3,000 people who die each year from opioids in Illinois.

Ingesting just 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be fatal, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Other drugs are often cut with fentanyl because of its potency and because it is cheap and easy to manufacture and transport, said Maryann Mason, an associate professor of emergency medicine at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine. Many users think they are taking the right dosage of a drug or opioid without realizing the concoction contains a lethal dose of fentanyl.

The Illinois Department of Public Health reported that “in 2021, toxicology testing found that … 89% of the opioid fatalities involved a synthetic opioid” which is a “pretty good representation of fentanyl,” according to the department’s website and an emailed response to questions by the Tribune.

“The (opioid) supply in the Chicago area is mostly fentanyl, over 90% fentanyl,” Dr. Wilnise Jasmin, medical director of the Bureau of Behavioral Health at the Chicago Department of Public Health, said. “And when it comes to educating the youth about it, I think it’s important for them to know specifically that — because of its potency — that would place them at an increased risk of experiencing an overdose.”

On Monday, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced charges against Luke Napolitano a 20-year-old Barrington man who this past December reportedly sold another 20-year-old man “drugs laced with fentanyl that caused his death,” according to a news release from Raoul’s office.

“Fentanyl-laced drugs are incredibly dangerous and continue to wreak havoc in communities across our country,” Raoul said in the news release Monday. Napolitano has been charged with one count of drug-induced homicide, a Class X felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison, and one count of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, a Class 2 felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.

Dr. Howard Kim, an emergency and addiction medicine physician and assistant professor who studies opioid overdose at Northwestern, said teens should be more aware that fentanyl may be present in many commonly used illicit drugs in order to make smart and well-informed decisions.

“High schoolers have always used drugs going back many, many generations,” Kim said. “It’s just the fact now that these drugs are contaminated with fentanyl.”

The more Lelia Peradotti learned, the more she realized how much her classmates could benefit from being more aware of fentanyl’s dangers. After speaking with experts at Stanford University about what could be done to make a difference, Lelia started reaching out to lawmakers with the idea she had settled on: an amendment to the school code.

Lelia contacted the office of state Rep. Janet Yang Rohr, a Naperville Democrat, and submitted her idea for a legislation change via email.

“Our young adults need to know the dangers fentanyl poses,” Rohr said. “This bipartisan legislation takes proactive and age-appropriate steps, by working with high schools to educate students about the dangers of fentanyl in a conducive learning environment.”

The bills Lelia advocated for are among several measures passed during the spring legislative session targeting fentanyl and drug overdose prevention.

A different bill increases access to fentanyl test strips, while another also expands the education of drug overdose in schools. Last year, Pritzker signed a test strip bill similar to the one passed during this session and he also launched the Overdose Action Plan that “prioritizes outreach to and engagement with individuals who are at risk for both fatal and nonfatal overdose,” according to the announcement in March of 2022.

Lelia struggled to make sense of what happened to her mom’s partner, a man with whom she had become close. Her lack of understanding about what caused his overdose only added to her confusion and pain.

“I had never heard of fentanyl, and in my health class my teacher touched on it super, super lightly,” Lelia said. “And then I had done a very, very small research paper in my AP literature class and that’s when I was kind of like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is something that really needs to be talked about and isn’t being talked about, at least on a lower level.’”

When she enrolled in her humanities class, she had the chance to study the drug with a focus on enacting real change in her community. By her senior year, she was testifying in front of lawmakers on behalf of the bills she helped draft.

“Originally, I had not planned on passing two bills but I felt that it was the right way to go about it to take action on this problem,” she said.

The second bill is a smaller adjustment to the state’s existing laws. Right now, schools may hold a supply of an opioid antagonist such as naloxone or Narcan. This amendment would change that “may” into a “shall,” thus mandating schools maintain a supply of opioid overdose prevention drugs.

“I certainly think that it could be one of the most consequential bills that we passed,” said state Rep. Diane Blair-Sherlock, who represents Glendale Heights, referring to the recent legislative session. “If a $22 dollar dose of Narcan saves one child’s life in this state … then it’s all worth it, it’s the most significant bill we passed.”