Addiction and recovery topics of discussion for Budgeting for Results Commission

Posted on June 13, 2019

*Addiction and recovery were the topics of a meeting Wednesday of the Budgeting for Results Commission. (Photo courtesy: Dave Dahl/WJBC)*

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Addiction and recovery were the topics of a meeting Wednesday of the Budgeting for Results Commission, which seeks to efficiently tie dollar amounts to specific state programs.

Various treatment strategies came up, but they are not always easy to quantify. “It is very hard to measure the outcomes in a single way. There’s just a wide variety of opinion of whether engagement is the most important thing, whether harm reduction is the most important thing, whether abstinence is the most important thing,” said commission chairman Jim Lewis, “and the (Governor’s Office of Management and Budget) people have to make determinations of what outcome they want to measure and which dollars went into that outcome.”

The commission’s combing through state government with a long way to go.

The commission meets June 26 in Chicago.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…