Illinois receives $16M to fight opioid addiction crisis

CHICAGO (AP) - Illinois is receiving more than $16 million in federal money to help fight a prescription drug addiction crisis.

Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth announced the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services grants. The money will go toward prevention, treatment and recovery services.

Duckworth says the money "will go a long way toward ending the opioid epidemic." Durbin says it's a crisis that impacts every community in Illinois, from urban to suburban and rural.

Nationwide, more than 33,000 deaths from opioid-related overdoses were reported in 2015. In Illinois more than 1,835 died in 2015. That's a 16 percent increase over 2013.

A U.S. surgeon general's report found only one in 10 people with a substance use disorder receives the care they need.