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GOP Lawmakers Push For Stiffer Penalties Against Heroin Dealers

Measures Would Crack Down On Heroin Dealers

(CBS) -- Republican lawmakers are pushing a package of bills designed to combat the heroin epidemic in the western suburbs.

WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin calls DuPage "ground zero" for heroin use.

"Too many lives are being lost to heroin, specifically in DuPage County," he says. "Each year in Illinois, the pain that families suffer is unbearable."

State Rep. Dennis Reboletti, R-Elmhurst, and others are sponsoring measures that would broaden the seizure of assets from drug dealers.

"It would be crucial to take the profit out of the heroin industry," he says.

Confiscated assets would be "reinvested" into law enforcement, substance abuse treatment and anti-drug education efforts.

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