Suit highlights suburban unease with addiction centers

By MICHAEL TARM
AP Legal Affairs Writer

CHICAGO (AP) — A Chicago-based addiction treatment center has filed a federal lawsuit to force one suburb to stop blocking its plans to set up a new treatment branch. Tuesday’s suit brought by the nonprofit Haymarket Center says Itasca’s rejection of a facility in a former hotel violates U.S. laws that bar discrimination against people recovering from addictions. Communities nationwide have also thwarted the opening of such facilities. Advocates for people with addictions say the resistance highlights how everyone seems to recognize the need for treatment facilities amid the ongoing opioid crisis, but bristle at putting them in their neighborhoods. Before the lawsuit, city officials denied discrimination underpinned their opposition.