SPRINGFIELD, Ill. • Social service providers say drug addicts are walking out of detox centers around Illinois this week, upon learning that the state government is eliminating funding for substance abuse treatment services, in a move expected to save $53 million.

A heroin user undergoing rehabilitation at Prairie Center Health Systems in Urbana, Ill., told the local media "that he was walking from treatment because he no longer had hope," said Bruce Suardini, CEO of the treatment center.

Illinois House Democrats Wednesday announced a bipartisan call for Gov. Pat Quinn to halt elimination of addiction treatment funding, Suardini and other service providers said they feared the outcome of the closures on their clients.

"He said he or other people will die," Suardini said, referring to the heroin user. "And I believe it."

 

Quinn announced last week that $53 million in cuts to substance-abuse funding would go into effect March 15. State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, and state Rep. Jim Watson, R-Jacksonville, are sponsoring the Illinois House resolution in response to the announcement.

"I do believe that there needs to be cuts in human services," Feigenholtz said. "But I also believe that the people in the budget office need to take a better look at other aspects of the budget and where else we can trim, instead of constantly coming to the human services appropriations committee."

Official details about the cuts were expected Tuesday, but Quinn's office has remained silent.

Critics say that eliminating funding will cost the state in other ways, including increased health care costs to treat addicts, new burdens to the criminal justice system and unemployment benefits owed to the 5,000 treatment center workers expected to lose their jobs.

The proposal is HR106.