SPRINGFIELD – State lawmakers and agencies that manage drug and alcohol treatment programs in Illinois warned Wednesday of "dire consequences" from the Quinn administration's decision to eliminate most funding for the programs after March 15.

Rep. Sara Feigenholtz, D-Chicago, who is chief sponsor of a House resolution that condemns the cuts, called them "an unacceptable approach to trimming the budget."

And Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, the chairman of the House Human Services Committee, said, "The governor always says that everybody should be in and no one left out. And this decision to cut out a lot of our communities is going to harm families in every corner of our state."

Harris, who said that he is a "recovering person myself," said "there are going to be tens of thousands of addicts out there on the street with no treatment, nowhere to turn and they're going to be turning to petty crimes." Hospitals, he predicted, will be swamped with patients with substance abuse problems.

"This is a bad decision on the face of it," said Harris, who acknowledged that widespread budget cuts are needed. But he said the alcohol and substance abuse community was taking a disproportionate share of the cuts.

Bruce Suardini, the CEO of Prairie Center Health Systems which operates in Champaign, Urbana and Danville, said his agency already has begun laying off 51 of 85 staff members and is no longer accepting new clients in its medical detox program.

"In that closure," Suardini said, "there will be no medical detox for any citizens in central Illinois."

He also said that Champaign County has – for now – "one of the best drug courts in the state of Illinois."

"And I'm going to have to go to my good friend, Judge Jeff Ford, and tell him that we can probably no longer provide services to the drug court. We know that for every $4,000 spent in treatment it will cost them roughly $25,000 to house them in prison."

Suardini also said the money spent on treatment programs saves nine times as much in health care costs.

"So if 55,000 people are not going to get treatment, multiply that by nine," he said. "If you think you're going to save dollars here, governor, I beg to differ."

Gov. Pat Quinn did not directly answer questions about the budget cuts, according to The Associated Press.

"We'll get through this fiscal year and onto the next one," the governor told reporters in Chicago.

Feigenholtz, who is the sponsor of the nonbinding resolution opposing the cuts (HR106) said they would result in the discharge of 55,000 treatment clients and the loss of more than 5,000 jobs in treatment agencies.

The agencies, including Prairie Center, said they still had no received formal notification of the cuts from the Quinn administration.

"There hasn't been a decision on releasing these letters, and there isn't a timeline," Suardini said. "So it's just kinda out there."