Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has cut $55 million in funding for addiction treatment as part of a $1.4 billion budget-trimming plan, prompting recovery advocates to hold a rally in downtown Chicago to denounce the cuts and call for the money to be restored.

The Southtown Star reported July 15 that Allan Sandusky, CEO of the South Suburban Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse and board president of the Illinois Alcoholism and Drug Dependence Association, was among those at the protest at the Thompson Center government offices in the downtown Loop.

"We have 7,500 people on a waiting list statewide to get substance abuse treatment," Sandusky said. "We're estimating that 42,000 will be kicked out of treatment" if the governor's cuts are made. Sandusky said that Blagojevich's cuts would pack a double-whammy because the state also would lose federal matching grants.

Currently, Illinois spends about $258 million on addiction treatment.

"Obviously, all of the programs are worthwhile and deserve to be properly funded, but so do rape centers, AIDS research, Amtrak service and many of the other programs and initiatives that remained in the budget," said Blagojevich spokesperson Katie Ridgway.