Earlier this Spring, State Representative Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) introduced HB 1879 in response to an incident involving a stolen prescription for a Schedule II controlled substance at a Chicagoland pharmacy.

The proposed bill aims to close a loophole reported on by CBS Chicago where a Chicago area woman’s opioid prescription was stolen. The incident involved Doris Jones, whose oxycodone prescription was wrongfully dispensed to an unidentified individual that somehow knew her personal details.

The Illinois State Police (ISP) is teaming up with the Save a Star Drug Awareness Foundation to help decrease prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse.

Governor Bruce Rauner announced today that five ISP District headquarters across the state will house receptacles for people to drop off their unused and unwanted prescription medications.

“Many people experiment with prescription drugs before turning to more dangerous, illegal drugs,” Rauner said. “These receptacles offer people a smart and safe way to get potentially addictive drugs out of their homes and off the streets.”

Gov. Bruce Rauner today announced the launch of a statewide helpline to provide immediate assistance for those impacted by addiction to opioids and other substances.

The helpline will provide a confidential outlet for individuals experiencing opioid use disorders, their families and anyone affected by the disease 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Helpline specialists are trained in evidence-based approaches to help connect callers with treatment and recovery-support services. To reach the helpline, individuals can call 1-833-2FINDHELP.

In the summer of 2016, drug overdose deaths in Baltimore were exploding and health commissioner Dr. Leana Wen told federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials the city needed real-time data to better manage its public health response.

Four months later, the DEA’s Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) team had developed a smart phone application that could be used by first responders to record the time and location of overdoses and transmit the information to a regional mapping database.

Today, that tool, known as ODMAP, is used by more than 250 law enforcement, first responder and public health agencies in 27 states. Read more.

Gov. Bruce Rauner today signed Executive Order 17-05, creating the governor’s Opioid Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force.

The task force will be co-chaired by Lt. Gov. Evelyn Sanguinetti and Dr. Nirav D. Shah, director of the Illinois Department of Public Health. The task force will look at strategies to prevent expansion of the opioid crisis, treat and promote the recovery of individuals with opioid-use disorder, and reduce the number of opioid overdose deaths.