By Howard Packowitz

BLOOMINGTON – Gov. Bruce Rauner was in Bloomington Tuesday promoting public and private efforts to keep addictive painkillers out of the wrong hands.

Rauner visited Walgreens at Veterans Parkway and GE Road, one of 83 Walgreens statewide to set up kiosks where people can dispose of unwanted or unused medications, including opioids.

“If any medication is not needed, it should be safely and promptly disposed of,” said Rauner.

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, Pfizer, Prime Therapeutics, and AmerisourceBergen are partnering with Walgreens to expand the safe medication disposal program.

“They may just have it sitting in their medicine cabinet where a young person could get access to it, or it could get known with some of neighbors. Somebody who maybe addicted may come over for a cup of coffee and grab it,” the governor said.

In this partisan election year, Rauner said Democrats and Republicans have worked together to combat opioid abuse. Rauner noted 11,000 Illinoisans have died from opioid overdoses the past ten years.

Drop boxes are also in the lobbies of the Normal and Bloomington police departments, in addition to the kiosk at Walgreens.

Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]