The state has significantly reduced its detox beds from 960 to 431 and cut six of its 22 addiction treatment programs. As a result, hundreds of addicted individuals who need help are turned away.

"They kept telling me to call back the next day until they could find a bed," said Laurie, a mother now 45 days sober and enrolled at the Emerson House in Falmouth. "I wanted to die. You're dead already, but how much lower can you go when you can't even get into treatment?"

Last year's budget cuts have left the Public Health Commission in Boston with 160 detox beds this year, down from 320. "When we lost more than 50 percent, it got to the point that more people were being turned away than were being helped," said John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Health Commission.

Auerbach estimates that more than 200 people are denied treatment each month, up from last year's monthly rate of 40.

Although Gov. Mitt Romney moved to provide $11.9 million in a supplemental budget, critics said the amount isn't enough to address the problem. Currently, the state Department of Public Health is awaiting results from three panels examining the state's addiction needs and resources.