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Monday, February 21st, 2011

Quinn Budget Cuts: Drug Treatment Programs To Lose All Funding

Author:    
Source:     The Huffington Post
Publication Date:     2/20/2011 12:24
 Link: Quinn Budget Cuts: Drug Treatment Programs To Lose All Funding
Stephan:   We are now entering a kind of Dickensian nightmare. Drug treatment and counseling is one the reasons violent crime involving drugs has dropped in recent years. This will now reverse, at least in Illinois. There will also be a sharp increase in the use of emergency rooms around the state, as those previously served by the drug centers revert to hospitals. The death rate will also go up, as will crime, as desperate addicts also revert. In the end this will probably end up costing the state most of what it saves, and will significantly coarsen life, particularly in large cities like Chicago. This is social policy driven by ideological 'values' instead of facts. It is no less hair-brained than communism; indeed it is its antipode.

The harsh reality of the budget cuts proposed by Illinois governor Pat Quinn will become very real for tens of thousands of residents, as the state prepares to kill all funding for its drug treatment and prevention programs.

Only federal Medicaid dollars will fund drug treatment centers starting March 15, meaning that services at centers statewide will face drastic cuts.

Sara Howe, CEO of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association told the News-Gazette that ’80 percent of our clients on March 15 would be thrown out of care.’ That adds up to around 55,000 people who will lose their help battling drugs.

‘It’s the most devastating picture possible,’ Howe said.

According to Eric Foster, also of IADDA, that includes up to 32,000 youth who will lose access to prevention programs, with disastrous possible ramifications, The Telegraph reports.

With a mounting budget crisis over the past several years, funding for treatment and prevention programs has already been seriously eroded, as a separate News-Gazette piece reads:

Prairie [Treatment] Center’s funding was cut by $900,000 in 2008, forcing it to close its detoxification program and lay off 22 employees. The detox program reopened after some of the money was restored and six nurses were […]

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