Will County Expands Narcan Distribution Amid Shifts in Opioid Overdose Demographics

Will County Public Health & Safety Committee Meeting | April 2, 2026

Article Summary: The Will County Health Department is ramping up its opioid overdose prevention efforts by distributing more Narcan boxes to local municipalities, including Peotone, Wilmington, and Braidwood, following shifts in overdose demographics and the looming threat of a new synthetic opioid in the Chicago area.

Will County Behavioral Health Key Points:

• Opioid overdose deaths remain low early in 2026, with four in January, one in February, and one in March.

• Joliet saw its 2025 overdose deaths cut in half (from 22 in 2024 to 10), while Bolingbrook and Lockport Township each recorded four deaths.

• “Red Box” Narcan dispensers have been installed at the Peotone Public Library, Braidwood City Hall, Fossil Ridge Library, and the Wilmington Police Department.

• Health officials are closely monitoring Cyclorphine, a highly potent, lab-made synthetic opioid recently detected in the Chicago-area drug supply.

• The county’s Substance Use Treatment Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) will officially reopen on April 13.

The Will County Board Public Health and Safety Committee on Thursday, April 2, 2026, received an extensive update on the county’s ongoing battle against opioid addiction, highlighted by a notable drop in overdose deaths in Joliet and the expansion of life-saving Narcan into rural and suburban communities.

Dr. Kathleen Burke, Behavioral Health Community Coordinator, reported that Will County is maintaining a “very, very low” trajectory for opioid deaths in early 2026, with four deaths recorded in January, and one each in February and March.

A review of 2025 data revealed significant progress in Joliet, historically the county’s epicenter for overdoses. Joliet recorded 10 deaths in 2025, a dramatic 54% decrease from the 22 deaths recorded in 2024. Romeoville, Crest Hill, and University Park also saw declines. However, Burke noted an uptick in Bolingbrook and Lockport Township, which each recorded four deaths in 2025, up from two the previous year. Frankfort Township and Mokena each recorded one death in 2025.

Burke also raised concerns about isolated incidents appearing in communities that have historically avoided the crisis, specifically naming Braidwood, Channahon, Homer Township, and Naperville.

“What that says to me is that we need to make sure all those communities have the same preparation that the other communities, the larger ones, which we do because we have popups all over the county,” Burke told the committee. “We don’t discriminate against anybody and we have been distributing our boxes, our red boxes, to the libraries in those communities.”

In March alone, the county distributed 1,244 boxes of Narcan and 268 fentanyl/xylazine test strips across 58 different locations. New “Red Box” public access Narcan dispensers have recently been installed at the Wilmington Police Department, Braidwood City Hall, the Fossil Ridge Library in Braidwood, the Peotone Public Library, and two locations on the main campus of the University of St. Francis in Joliet.

“They were empty within a week,” Burke said of the St. Francis boxes. “It just tells you, you know, a lot of times administration and security says, ‘Oh no, there’s no need for it,’ until we do something like that and then you see absolutely people want to be prepared.”

Burke also issued a warning regarding Cyclorphine, a highly potent, lab-made synthetic opioid from the benzimidazole class that has been detected in the Chicago-area drug supply. While it has no approved medical use and has not yet been detected in Will County, Burke emphasized that it acts on the same brain receptors as fentanyl and carries a severe overdose risk.

“When it’s that strong, the chances of you overdosing are greater,” Burke said. “We haven’t seen any yet in Will County, but that’s what we monitor on the tox report to make sure. Chicago, it’s not surprising if it’s going to come. Chicago’s going to get it first.”

In a positive development for local treatment availability, Burke announced that the county’s Substance Use Treatment Intensive Outpatient Program (IOP) will officially reopen on Monday, April 13. The program will run Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Health Department. Additionally, the Recovery Community Center of Joliet has expanded to a larger facility at 105 McDonough Street to accommodate growing demand.

Committee member Julie Berkowicz (R-Naperville) praised the department’s outreach, particularly noting her own positive interactions with the rapid response team during a recent Emergency Management Agency workshop in Braidwood.