More than $1 billion in state spending cuts forwarded by Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick will help close a looming budget deficit but hurt people with addictions and mental illness, the Boston Globe reported Nov. 16.

"This is probably the most serious financial crisis our industry has found itself in," said Paul O'Shea, president and CEO of treatment provider Health and Education Services in Beverly, Mass., which will lose $1 million in funding under Patrick's budget plan. "The cuts were really dramatic. They are affecting pretty much all the areas we provide services in."

Vicker V. DiGravio III, president and CEO of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Corporations of Massachusetts, said the situation for behavioral-healthcare providers in the state is "very grave."

"The cuts are going to basically create situations where people are not going to have the structured environments they've depended on for many years," said DiGravio.

Programs recognize that the state's budget situation is dire, said Jackie Moore, CEO of the North Suffolk Mental Health Association. "But people with mental illness should not be bearing the burden of the budget cuts," she said.