MASSIVE cuts in funding to Suffolk's drug support agency will have a “devastating” blow on its ability to treat addicts, it has been claimed.Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) will lose 30 per cent of its main Government grant in 2010, despite seeing a large increase in adults receiving treatment in the past year.

MASSIVE cuts in funding to Suffolk's drug support agency will have a “devastating” blow on its ability to treat addicts, it has been claimed.

Suffolk Drug and Alcohol Action Team (DAAT) will lose 30 per cent of its main Government grant in 2010, despite seeing a large increase in adults receiving treatment in the past year.

The team is currently in line to receive �2.2million from the Government next year compared to �3.2m in 2007 and �3m last year.

Chip Somers, chief executive of Bury St Edmunds based addiction charity Focus 12 said: “I think it is going to be devastating. We are expected by the government to see more people than last year and yet they are providing us with less money to do so.”

Brian Tobin, director of rehabilitation charity The Iceni Project, based in Ipswich, said: “My concern is that there will be no money for new initiatives like working with families, which is most needed in Suffolk.

“I think it is tremendously disappointing that we are getting a cut at a time when it is probably needed the most.”

Details of the financial cut are revealed in a report which will be discussed at a Suffolk County Council committee meeting later this month and while it is stated the cuts could have significant impact, Simon Aalders, DAAT co-ordinator, said frontline services would not be affected.

He said plans were being put in place to deliver the most cost effective services possible and reassured people that services would not be closed.

Mr Aalders added: “We know the crucial role that this treatment plays in the lives of thousands of people, not just those who come through the door of services but families and friends and the wider community.”