Everybody knows somebody who has had some type of drug or alcohol problem.
It could be the dad with a heroin problem sitting on the brink of death before realizing he needed help.
It could be the uncle nobody wants to sit next to at family parties, because he drinks too much and gets too feely.
It could be the aunt, who nobody suspects of being an alcoholic, but the several bottles of wine she drinks at a party brings out her nasty side that nobody at work would suspect.
It could be the friend, who in a fit of youthful indiscretion was arrested for theft or drunk driving.
The person you know may have never entered treatment, but chances are you have a story about how horribly they acted, or how badly their actions made you feel.
Chances also are you may know someone who has never touched the stuff. They stay away thanks to either a prevention program or the pain endured by witnessing a relative drink themselves into oblivion.
If the state legislature doesn’t get its act together, in coming years, you’ll probably know a lot more of the former and a lot fewer of the latter.
Drug and alcohol treatment programs are the victim of $55 million in cuts, thanks to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s veto pen. The House restored $43 million in funding, but unless the Senate comes back into session and overrides the veto as well, the money will be lost.
Add to that another $55 million in federal matching dollars that would be lost, and treatment and prevention programs across the state will face a 43 percent reduction in funds.
Critics incorrectly state the funding that was cut by the governor is new funding, and while that’s true of most of the lopped-off programs, cuts in the treatment and prevention sector inexplicably put funding back to the level it was at three years ago.
Stepping Stones in Joliet, one of the largest treatment centers in Will County, will only be able to serve about half of the 900 clients it now treats.
Cherry Powell, the prevention coordinator for the Will County Prevention Consortium, said the cuts will eventually mean the virtual dismantling of all their programs. That means students in Will, Grundy and Kendall counties could lose out on programs that promote healthy decisions and keep them away from drugs, alcohol and tobacco.
If that happens, Powell says simply that teenage drug usage will increase, as will crime and shoplifting.
She’s not off base.
This issue is partly personal: I sit on the statewide board for Operation Snowball, a prevention program found mostly in schools. While we would be lying to ourselves if we said it discourages all teens from using alcohol, it does provide a framework of good decisions that can’t do anything but help kids lead healthy productive lives.
In short, $1 spent on prevention saves $4 spent on treatment, while $1 spent on treatment saves $7 spent on criminal justice, emergency rooms, domestic violence programs and child welfare, according to Sara Moscato Howe, CEO of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association.
On Thursday, some 1,600 clients and treatment providers rallied at the Thompson Center in hopes of convincing Senate President Emil Jones to call his chamber back into session.
Many wore buttons that read “I’m in recovery. I vote.”
These were not the alcoholics that you see sipping out of brown bags at the bus station. These were well-dressed men and women who live and hold down jobs in our communities — they could be cleaning the bus station, cooking your child’s lunch at the school cafeteria, or even working at the doctor or dentist’s office.
But, they’re also men and women who can least afford to have the framework that allows them to be productive members of society ripped right out from underneath them.
It’s easy to see where they’re going to turn, and it’s not a good place for any of us.
strategies to achieve self-esteem, healthy personal and family relationships, school success, and alcohol and drug prevention, according to Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association CEO Sara Howe.