By Matt Leingang
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Ibrahim Akram spent most of his life stuck in a continuing cycle of drug and alcohol addiction.

But it wasn't until 2000 that the 60-year-old Akram, who served two prison sentences for aggravated assault and cocaine possession, got substance abuse treatment.

Today, the Westwood resident remains sober. He credits the treatment that he received at Prospect House in Cincinnati for putting him on the road to recovery.

But state budget cuts for substance abuse programs could give rise to more domestic violence, child abuse and other criminal acts of violence, a group of counselors and law enforcement officials said Saturday.

"When addiction treatment programs suffer, communities lose," said Lawrence Anthony, director of University of Cincinnati's addictions studies program, which hosted a forum on the issue.

Akram said he's one of the lucky ones. As a Vietnam veteran, the federal government paid for his treatment. But coverage gaps are severe for many Ohioans.

In Ohio, 1 million people need drug and alcohol treatment, but 75,000 actually have access to state-sponsored programs, the group said. In Hamilton County, 7,000 of the 44,000 people with addiction problems get help. Those figures could soon get worse.

Gene Johnson, chairman of Hamilton County's Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, said Ohio is proposing a 6 percent cut in treatment programs this summer.

Most of the funding for Johnson's agency - about 65 percent - comes from the state.

"So we're faced with having to make some difficult choices about our programs," Johnson said. "Do we cut prevention programs for children? Do we cut treatment programs for pregnant women addicted to heroin?"

Drug and alcohol abuse runs through many of society's problems, from crime to failing schools to prison overcrowding.

But Saturday's forum wasn't just a platform to complain. Speakers called on lawmakers to increase funding of treatment programs, but they offered other solutions, too.

Congress should drop a ban on federal financial aid for college students who have drug convictions, said Patri-cia Taylor, director of Faces & Voices of Recovery in Washington, D.C.

The ban hurts teens working to turn their lives around, and older Americans who are trying to finish college degrees, Taylor said.

E-mail mleingang@enquirer.com