BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (WMBD) -- Morphine, the common opioid to treat pain, is in a national shortage, without a clear reason.

"We are having some shortage issues for some varying concentrations of morphine, as well as some other pain relievers. We're doing some inventory sharing, and then we're looking at what's available as far as allocations and alternate concentrations to see if there are safe alternatives so we can increase stock on," said Ryan Wolf, pharmacy manager for OSF St. Joseph and St. James.

This shortage is nothing new and has been on and off for months now. Medical professionals are keeping a close eye on things to make sure they have a plan in case the shortage turns into an outage.

"We're in a place where we're concerned and watching. We've put some small steps in as far as

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