Illinois will receive a four-year federal grant to combat prescription-drug overdoses.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention named Illinois as one of 16 recipients in a program called "Prescription Drug Overdoses: Prevention for States."

The grant is worth $3.6 million.

The money is meant to support a variety of strategies, including enhancing prescription drug monitoring and improving the prescribing practices for opioids. The funds would also help start prevention efforts at state and local levels to minimize misuse and overdose, and begin "rapid response projects" to take on new and emerging problems related to the epidemic.

The program is directed at prescription drug overdoses, but also provides the chance to increase surveillance and evaluation to understand and respond to heroin overdose deaths.