California judge sends boy who killed neo-Nazi father to state lockup
Prosecutors had sought for him to placed in the state's juvenile justice system, but the boy's defense attorneys argued for him to be placed in a residential treatment center. "My wish for Joseph … Hall had been living in Riverside County, Calif.'s …
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LA County Audit Finds Failures in Oversight of Drug Rehab Clinics
The report, released late Friday, was commissioned by the county Board of Supervisors after The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN revealed pervasive and unchecked fraud in the Drug Medi-Cal system, which provides addiction counseling for the …
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Above It All Treatment Center Drug Rehab in California Extends Programs and …
Above It All Treatment Center – a drug and alcohol rehab center in the mountains above Los Angeles, CA – is continuing its drive towards excellence, quality treatment, and successful rehabilitation of patients by rolling-out a number of new features …
Read more on PR Web (press release)

LA County audit finds failures in oversight of drug rehab clinics
Los Angeles County authorities have let problem drug rehabilitation providers run away with millions of dollars in public money and failed to follow through on threats to stop funding errant clinics, according to a new report by the county auditor …
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Zac Efron's Secret Crisis
He was an A student in his Arroyo Grande, Calif., high school – a theater kid who hit the big time as the fresh-faced teenaged star of Disney Channel's High School Musical phenomenon. There were no public displays of bad behavior, no drunken arrests or …
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Mom's pain eased by volunteering at drug rehab
Jacqueline Dobson doesn't believe in coincidences, so when a series of events related to a proposed substance abuse home for teens happened, she believed she was being nudged by God, or maybe her 32-year-old son, who died from a heroin overdose a …
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Audit: LA County Failed To Properly Regulate Drug Treatment Clinics
Authorities have failed to properly regulate drug treatment centers in Los Angeles County that receive Medi-Cal funding, according to an audit released Friday by the county's auditor-controller, the Center for Investigative Reporting reports. Medi-Cal …
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Gallo Research Center issues grant to discover new medication to treat alcohol …
The UCSF-affiliated Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center has issued a second round of grants under its U.S. Army-funded research program intended to accelerate the discovery and development of new medications to treat alcohol and substance abuse …
Read more on News-Medical.net

Center takes on substance abuse
WINNEBAGO – Substance abuse is a problem affecting increasingly younger children, says Naomi Ochsendorf, program director at the Adolescent Treatment Center in Winnebago. To help combat the trend, the center will observe Red Ribbon Week from Oct.
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Rehab centers struggle to keep drugs out
When Bethany Ehrhart, 23, wanted to kick her addiction to painkillers, her mother, Darlene, found the money for top-of-the-line treatment at the world-renowned Betty Ford Center. A week after her arrival at the celebrity rehab in Rancho Mirage, Calif …
Read more on USA TODAY

Director apologizes after lapses lead to Medi-Cal fraud at rehab clinics
The director of the state's Medi-Cal agency offered a full apology during a legislative hearing today for what he called “unacceptable” and “systematic” failures in state oversight of taxpayer-funded drug rehabilitation services. The mea culpa came …
Read more on Center For Investigative Reporting

Former baseball player and drug addict finds solace in rare rehab program
Eric Graham graduated from the STARR program in Durham after being arrested on larceny charges. He supported his drug habit by stealing hundreds of DVDs from area Target and Walmart stores. Court records list 10 larceny charges this year in Durham, …
Read more on The Independent Weekly

California Lawmakers Order Audit of Taxpayer-Funded Drug Rehab Program
The review was spurred by Rehab Racket, a yearlong investigation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN that found widespread forgery and fabrication at alcohol and drug counseling clinics, as well as wide gaps in state and county oversight.
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Port St. Lucie zoning board approves site plan, denies zoning change for …
Torino Campus would house existing clients of New Life Addiction Treatment Center. The 21 clients currently live in six rehab institutional homes throughout the city and during the day receive treatment at New Life's office at Prima Vista Boulevard and …
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Review: problem gambling and substance abuse linked, says sociologist
Dr. Flora Matheson, sociologist at St. Michael's Hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health, says problem gamblers are a hidden population among people with mental health or substance abuse issues who often don't get the treatment they need.
Read more on Science Codex

California Lawmakers Order Audit of Taxpayer-Funded Drug Rehab Program
Karen Johnson, chief deputy director of the California Department of Health Care Services, speaks before the Legislature's Joint Legislative Audit Committee. She said authorities welcome a state audit of the Drug Medi-Cal drug rehab program for the poor.
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CNN/CIR rehab fraud investigation spurs lawmakers into action
(CNN) — A California lawmaker has scheduled a hearing to examine disclosures of significant fraud in taxpayer-funded drug rehabilitation by The Center for Investigative Reporting and CNN. Dr. Richard Pan, chairman of the Assembly Health Committee, …
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With Lax Oversight, Fraud Flourishes in California's Drug Rehab Clinics
Drug Medi-Cal paid out $ 94 million in the past two fiscal years to 56 clinics in Southern California that have shown signs of deception or questionable billing practices, representing half of all public funding to the program, CIR and CNN found. The …
Read more on NBC Bay Area