[Nov 1, 2011] HOUSTON, Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG – News) (EOG) today reported third quarter 2011 net income of $540.9 million, or $2.01
Read more http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Edgewood-Treatment-Center-iw-235972031.html
CUPERTINO, Calif., Nov. 1, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — CRC Health Group, the nation’s largest network of behavioral health and addiction treatment services, today announced the successful acquisition of North Carolina‘s Mountain Health Solutions outpatient treatment centers. Mountain Health Solutions, comprised of two facilities located in Asheville and North Wilkesboro, is a certified opioid treatment program by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services which signifies that they meet specific, nationally accepted standards of patient care and organizational functioning.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110811/LA51146LOGO)
“We are very pleased to announce this acquisition of Mountain Health Solution’s high-quality services and welcome the addition of their two locations to our network,” said R. Andrew Eckert, Chief Executive Officer of CRC Health Group.
CRC Health Group currently owns the most comprehensive network of addiction treatment services in the nation. The addition of Mountain Health Solutions expands the company’s ability to offer individuals the latest, evidence-based addiction treatment services that include medication-assisted treatments (MATs) like Suboxone and methadone. MATs are highly regulated treatment options for individuals who are attempting to overcome an addiction to opioids such as prescription narcotics (Oxycontin, Codeine, Percocet, Morphine, etc.) and heroin. When used in proper doses as part of a medically supervised addiction treatment program, research has confirmed that the medications used in MAT programs can block cravings and other withdrawal symptoms, and allow individuals to live normal, productive lives.
Together, CRC and Mountain Health Solutions will administer MATs in a safe and caring environment that is supervised by a physician medical director and clinical staff, as part of a complete treatment plan that includes motivational and behavioral therapy, group counseling, and individual counseling to enhance recovery success. The program also provides intake assessments, treatment for co-occurring disorders, drug abuse education, individualized treatment planning, and relapse prevention.
“Our new relationship with CRC Health Group will allow us to focus our efforts on our core expertise of providing direct clinical care, while CRC will provide the infrastructure necessary for our treatment centers to continue to grow,” said Dr. Vicki Ittel, Ph.D., who co-owned MHS with Dr. Elizabeth Stanton, MD. “We are very excited and proud to be a part of the CRC organization.”
Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., CRC Health Group is the most comprehensive network of specialized behavioral healthcare services in the nation. CRC offers the largest array of personalized treatment options, allowing individuals, families and professionals to choose the most appropriate treatment setting for their behavioral, addiction, weight management and therapeutic education needs. CRC is committed to making its services widely and easily available, while maintaining a passion for delivering advanced treatment. Since 1995, CRC has been helping individuals and families reclaim and enrich their lives. For more information, visit www.crchealth.com or call (877) 637-6237.
SOURCE CRC Health Group
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BY JOHN RICHARDSON
Budget panel considering two-year MaineCare cap for Suboxone
BY JOHN RICHARDSON
The Portland Press Herald
A state budget-cutting task force is considering a two-year MaineCare limit on some forms of drug addiction treatment.
Officials with MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, proposed a cap on coverage of treatment with Suboxone, a replacement drug that helps opiate addicts resist cravings while getting counseling and therapy. Cutting off coverage after two years would save $787,313 in the 2013 budget, the agency says.
Members of the Streamline & Prioritize Core Government Services Task Force have not yet decided whether to add the idea to their final list of proposed cuts. But they suggested during a meeting Friday that the two-year-limit might also be applied to methadone, another replacement drug used to treat addicts. It’s not yet known how much money that limit could save MaineCare.
“When is enough enough? Or is this a lifetime treatment?” said Joseph Bruno, a former legislator and member of the task force.
Physicians who treat addicts said Monday the limit would lead to more addiction at a time when Maine is already dealing with historically high levels of overdoses and drug-related crime.
“There are people who are in constant crises in their lives who will relapse without being on stabilizing medication,” said Dr. Mark Publicker, an addiction specialist at Mercy Recovery Center in Westbrook. “It would be as logical as putting people on type 2 diabetes medication for two years. It’s as much a medical disease.”
The Streamlining Task Force is building a list of $25 million in proposed cuts to give to the Legislature in December. The limit on drug addiction treatments is sure to be among those that generate a backlash if lawmakers formally take them up early next year.
Suboxone and methadone are prescribed to thousands of Mainers fighting addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin. About 15,000 Mainers are receiving methadone or suboxone treatments, and most of them are covered by MaineCare. Two-thirds of the 4,000 Mainers admitted into treatments last year were covered by MaineCare, according to state figures.
The treatments cost about $300 per month for each patient.
Recovering addicts take small daily doses of the drugs to limit cravings as they rebuild their lives and go through therapy. While many are weaned off the medications within two years, others rely on medications to stay sober for many years. It was not clear on Monday how many MaineCare members have gone beyond two years in the treatments.
Jane Hallett of Lubec said she has been taking daily doses of methadone for six years. “You cannot do it within two years. You just can’t,” she said.
The 50-year-old said she is gradually reducing the dose, but is sure she would relapse without the treatment.
“I have severe depression,” Hallett said. “And when things aren’t going right … my answer is to go get a pill. And still, after six years (on methadone), the urge is still there once in a while.”
The two-year cap is based on federal guidance and on established best practices, according to a statement provided by the Office of MaineCare Services. The agency also said it plans to allow members to exceed the two year limit if it is medically necessary and the provider gets prior authorization for the treatment.
Bruno, the task force member, said the cost has become too great for the state and some treatment providers are profiting from the long-term use of the drugs. Some patients are profiting, too, by selling their medications to other users and addicts, he said.
“If people are productive and they’re doing well on the stuff, it’s a hard call. But there are some people who aren’t productive and it’s becoming a profit center for them,” Bruno said. “It’s a fine line, but how much are we willing to pay for?”
Publicker and other doctors say there is no standard time of treatment for a recovering addict. “It requires a combination of medication and lifestyle changes,” he said.
Publicker said he is treating a young mother who has been on suboxone for two years, has paralyzing depression and is on the verge of being homeless. Suboxone is the only thing keeping her from abusing painkillers again, he said.
“If I say ‘Oh, by the way, your two years are up,’ I would have a dead patient,” he said.
Dr. Joseph Py, corporate medical director for the Discovery House methadone clinics in Maine and several other states, said he knows of no states with time limits on the treatments.
“There’s nothing in the addiction medicine literature that has been written that could justify a two-year limit,” he said. “Continued open-ended treatment is the medical standard of care.”
An arbitrary limit will push more people back into addiction, eventually costing the state much more in additional emergency room visits, crime and fatal overdoses.
“There’s a 10 percent mortality rate per year for individuals who leave methadone replacement treatment before they’re ready,” he said.
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
A state budget-cutting task force is considering a two-year MaineCare limit on some forms of drug addiction treatment.
Officials with MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, proposed a cap on coverage of treatment with Suboxone, a replacement drug that helps opiate addicts resist cravings while getting counseling and therapy. Cutting off coverage after two years would save $787,313 in the 2013 budget, the agency says.
Members of the Streamline & Prioritize Core Government Services Task Force have not yet decided whether to add the idea to their final list of proposed cuts. But they suggested during a meeting Friday that the two-year-limit might also be applied to methadone, another replacement drug used to treat addicts. It’s not yet known how much money that limit could save MaineCare.
“When is enough enough? Or is this a lifetime treatment?” said Joseph Bruno, a former legislator and member of the task force.
Physicians who treat addicts said Monday the limit would lead to more addiction at a time when Maine is already dealing with historically high levels of overdoses and drug-related crime.
“There are people who are in constant crises in their lives who will relapse without being on stabilizing medication,” said Dr. Mark Publicker, an addiction specialist at Mercy Recovery Center in Westbrook.
“It would be as logical as putting people on type 2 diabetes medication for two years. It’s as much a medical disease.”
The Streamlining Task Force is building a list of $25 million in proposed cuts to give to the Legislature in December. The limit on drug addiction treatments is sure to be among those that generate a backlash if lawmakers formally take them up early next year.
Suboxone and methadone are prescribed to thousands of Mainers fighting addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin. About 15,000 Mainers are receiving methadone or suboxone treatments, and most of them are covered by MaineCare. Two-thirds of the 4,000 Mainers admitted into treatments last year were covered by MaineCare, according to state figures.
The treatments cost about $300 per month for each patient.
Recovering addicts take small daily doses of the drugs to limit cravings as they rebuild their lives and go through therapy. While many are weaned off the medications within two years, others rely on medications to stay sober for many years. It was not clear on Monday how many MaineCare members have gone beyond two years in the treatments.
Jane Hallett of Lubec said she has been taking daily doses of methadone for six years. “You cannot do it within two years. You just can’t,” she said.
The 50-year-old said she is gradually reducing the dose, but is sure she would relapse without the treatment.
“I have severe depression,” Hallett said. “And when things aren’t going right … my answer is to go get a pill. And still, after six years (on methadone), the urge is still there once in a while.”
The two-year cap is based on federal guidance and on established best practices, according to a statement provided by the Office of MaineCare Services. The agency also said it plans to allow members to exceed the two year limit if it is medically necessary and the provider gets prior authorization for the treatment.
Bruno, the task force member, said the cost has become too great for the state and some treatment providers are profiting from the long-term use of the drugs. Some patients are profiting, too, by selling their medications to other users and addicts, he said.
“If people are productive and they’re doing well on the stuff, it’s a hard call. But there are some people who aren’t productive and it’s becoming a profit center for them,” Bruno said. “It’s a fine line, but how much are we willing to pay for?”
Publicker and other doctors say there is no standard time of treatment for a recovering addict. “It requires a combination of medication and lifestyle changes,” he said.
Publicker said he is treating a young mother who has been on suboxone for two years, has paralyzing depression and is on the verge of being homeless. Suboxone is the only thing keeping her from abusing painkillers again, he said.
“If I say ‘Oh, by the way, your two years are up,’ I would have a dead patient,” he said.
Dr. Joseph Py, corporate medical director for the Discovery House methadone clinics in Maine and several other states, said he knows of no states with time limits on the treatments.
“There’s nothing in the addiction medicine literature that has been written that could justify a two-year limit,” he said. “Continued open-ended treatment is the medical standard of care.”
An arbitrary limit will push more people back into addiction, eventually costing the state much more in additional emergency room visits, crime and fatal overdoses.
“There’s a 10 percent mortality rate per year for individuals who leave methadone replacement treatment before they’re ready,” he said.
STATE HOUSE
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
A state budget-cutting task force is considering a two-year MaineCare limit on some forms of drug addiction treatment.
Officials with MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, proposed a cap on coverage of treatment with Suboxone, a replacement drug that helps opiate addicts resist cravings while getting counseling and therapy.
Cutting off coverage after two years would save $787,313 in the 2013 budget, the agency says.
Members of the Streamline & Prioritize Core Government Services Task Force have not yet decided whether to add the idea to their final list of proposed cuts. But they suggested during a meeting Friday that the two-year-limit might also be applied to methadone, another replacement drug used to treat addicts. It’s not yet known how much money that limit could save MaineCare.
“When is enough enough? Or is this a lifetime treatment?” said Joseph Bruno, a former legislator and member of the task force.
Physicians who treat addicts said Monday the limit would lead to more addiction at a time when Maine is already dealing with historically high levels of overdoses and drug-related crime.
“There are people who are in constant crises in their lives who will relapse without being on stabilizing medication,” said Dr. Mark Publicker, an addiction specialist at Mercy Recovery Center in Westbrook. “It would be as logical as putting people on type 2 diabetes medication for two years. It’s as much a medical disease.”
The Streamlining Task Force is building a list of $25 million in proposed cuts to give to the Legislature in December. The limit on drug addiction treatments is sure to be among those that generate a backlash if lawmakers formally take them up early next year.
Suboxone and methadone are prescribed to thousands of Mainers fighting addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin. About 15,000 Mainers are receiving methadone or suboxone treatments, and most of them are covered by MaineCare. Two-thirds of the 4,000 Mainers admitted into treatments last year were covered by MaineCare, according to state figures.
The treatments cost about $300 per month for each patient.
Recovering addicts take small daily doses of the drugs to limit cravings as they rebuild their lives and go through therapy. While many are weaned off the medications within two years, others rely on medications to stay sober for many years. It was not clear on Monday how many MaineCare members have gone beyond two years in the treatments.
Jane Hallett of Lubec said she has been taking daily doses of methadone for six years. “You cannot do it within two years. You just can’t,” she said.
The 50-year-old said she is gradually reducing the dose, but is sure she would relapse without the treatment.
“I have severe depression,” Hallett said. “And when things aren’t going right … my answer is to go get a pill. And still, after six years (on methadone), the urge is still there once in a while.”
The two-year cap is based on federal guidance and on established best practices, according to a statement provided by the Office of MaineCare Services. The agency also said it plans to allow members to exceed the two year limit if it is medically necessary and the provider gets prior authorization for the treatment.
Bruno, the task force member, said the cost has become too great for the state and some treatment providers are profiting from the long-term use of the drugs. Some patients are profiting, too, by selling their medications to other users and addicts, he said.
“If people are productive and they’re doing well on the stuff, it’s a hard call. But there are some people who aren’t productive and it’s becoming a profit center for them,” Bruno said. “It’s a fine line, but how much are we willing to pay for?”
Publicker and other doctors say there is no standard time of treatment for a recovering addict. “It requires a combination of medication and lifestyle changes,” he said.
Publicker said he is treating a young mother who has been on suboxone for two years, has paralyzing depression and is on the verge of being homeless. Suboxone is the only thing keeping her from abusing painkillers again, he said. “If I say ‘Oh, by the way, your two years are up,’ I would have a dead patient,” he said.
Dr. Joseph Py, corporate medical director for the Discovery House methadone clinics in Maine and several other states, said he knows of no states with time limits on the treatments.
“There’s nothing in the addiction medicine literature that has been written that could justify a two-year limit,” he said. “Continued open-ended treatment is the medical standard of care.”
An arbitrary limit will push more people back into addiction, eventually costing the state much more in additional emergency room visits, crime and fatal overdoses. “There’s a 10 percent mortality rate per year for individuals who leave methadone replacement treatment before they’re ready,” he said.
By John Richardson jrichardson@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer
A state budget-cutting task force is considering a two-year MaineCare limit on some forms of drug addiction treatment.
Officials with MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, proposed a cap on coverage of treatment with Suboxone, a replacement drug that helps opiate addicts resist cravings while getting counseling and therapy. Cutting off coverage after two years would save $787,313 in the 2013 budget, the agency says.
Members of the Streamline and Prioritize Core Government Services Task Force have not decided whether to add the idea to their final list of proposed cuts. But they suggested during a meeting Friday that the two-year limit might also be applied to methadone, another replacement drug used to treat addicts. It’s not yet known how much money that limit could save MaineCare.
“When is enough enough? Or is this a lifetime treatment?” said Joseph Bruno, a former House Republican leader and member of the task force.
Physicians who treat addicts said Monday that the limit would lead to more addiction at a time when Maine is already dealing with historically high levels of overdoses and drug-related crime.
“There are people who are in constant crises in their lives who will relapse without being on stabilizing medication,” said Dr. Mark Publicker, an addiction specialist at Mercy Recovery Center in Westbrook. “It would be as logical as putting people on Type 2 diabetes medication for two years. It’s as much a medical disease.”
The task force is compiling a list of $25 million in proposed cuts to give to the Legislature in December. The limit on drug addiction treatments is sure to be among the cuts that generate a backlash if lawmakers formally take them up early next year.
Suboxone and methadone are prescribed to about 15,000 Mainers fighting addiction to prescription painkillers or heroin, and most of them are covered by MaineCare. Two-thirds of the 4,000 Mainers admitted into treatment last year were covered by MaineCare, according to state figures.
Treatments cost about $300 per month for each patient.
Recovering addicts take small daily doses of Suboxone or methadone to limit cravings as they rebuild their lives and go through therapy. While many are weaned off the medications within two years, others rely on the drugs for many years to stay sober. It was not clear on Monday how many MaineCare members have gone beyond two years with the treatments.
Jane Hallett of Lubec said she has been taking daily doses of methadone for six years. “You cannot do it within two years. You just can’t,” she said.
The 50-year-old said she is gradually reducing the dose, but is sure she would relapse without the treatment.
“I have severe depression,” Hallett said. “And when things aren’t going right … my answer is to go get a pill. And still, after six years (on methadone), the urge is still there once in a while.”
The two-year cap is based on federal guidance and on established best practices, according to the Office of MaineCare Services. The agency also said it plans to allow members to exceed the two-year limit if it is medically necessary and the provider gets prior authorization for the treatment.
Bruno, the task force member, said the cost has become too great for the state and that some treatment providers are profiting from long-term use of the drugs. Some patients are profiting, too, by selling their medications to other users and addicts, he said.
“If people are productive and they’re doing well on the stuff, it’s a hard call. But there are some people who aren’t productive and it’s becoming a profit center for them,” Bruno said. “It’s a fine line, but how much are we willing to pay for?”
Publicker and other doctors say there is no standard time of treatment for a recovering addict. “It requires a combination of medication and lifestyle changes,” he said.
Publicker said he is treating a young mother who has been on Suboxone for two years, has paralyzing depression and is on the verge of being homeless. Suboxone is the only thing keeping her from abusing painkillers again, he said.
“If I say, ‘Oh, by the way, your two years are up,’ I would have a dead patient,” he said.
Dr. Joseph Py, corporate medical director for the Discovery House methadone clinics in Maine and several other states, said he knows of no states with time limits on the treatments.
“There’s nothing in the addiction medicine literature that has been written that could justify a two-year limit,” he said. “Continued open-ended treatment is the medical standard of care.”
An arbitrary limit will push more people back into addiction, Py said, eventually costing the state much more in additional emergency room visits, crime and fatal overdoses.
“There’s a 10 percent mortality rate per year for individuals who leave methadone replacement treatment before they’re ready,” he said.
Read more http://www.thereporter.com/rss/ci_19227195?source=rss
Nancy Clark calls them clients.
For 15 years, Clark has run a shoplifting addiction treatment program in Newport Beach. Many clients attend in lieu of possible jail or prison sentences.
Despite stereotypes about petty thieves snatching items out of financial desperation, many of the people in the program are well-to-do. They see shoplifting as an addiction that gives an endorphin rush on a par with drugs.
Nancy Clark & Associates Inc.’s treatment program enrolls only people who steal items they can afford. It is not for those who steal to support a drug or alcohol addiction — there’s another group for them.
Clark enforces a strict dress-and-grooming code during the 12-week program: No tank tops are allowed, men must be clean-shaven, and hats and sunglasses are forbidden.
“I don’t want somebody to look like the Unabomber when they come to my office in the morning,” she said.
That isn’t an issue for many in the largely female group. Many of the clients are professionals or publicly lauded in the community but quietly steal items to satisfy an urge often inspired by feelings of loneliness, anxiety or frustration in their personal lives.
“The clientele I work with usually can afford the products,” said program director Kathy Escher. “They are professionals…. The risk-taking in shoplifting can work as an antidepressant. It’s just like any other high with any other addiction. The pleasure area of the brain that’s stimulated can be addictive.”
Many of the stolen items are meaningless or unusable to those who take them. Clark knows of someone who stole a single shoe and another who amassed three storage units worth of items, spanning a 25-year “career.”
According to Clark, some shoplifters find their urges triggered by small stores filled with tchotchkes, while others feel a compulsion to act out in the aisles of big-box retailers.
The program aims for the root of why clients steal, emphasizing individual treatment coupled with group counseling to build a support network where they can share feelings that compel them to steal. By the group’s estimates, the recidivism rate of people who complete the program is 4%.
Elizabeth, 42, has been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years. She said Clark’s program helped her understand that she isn’t alone in her struggle with shoplifting.
“This is a real problem,” said Elizabeth, who spoke only on the condition that her last name not be used. “This is something you have to manage for the rest of your life. I’m a good, moral person. I know it’s wrong to steal…. For so long I didn’t realize why I was doing it. Basically, you’re trying to fill a need.”
Elizabeth has been in Clark’s program since her late 20s, and although she hasn’t stolen anything in eight years, she won’t go more than a few months without attending a group meeting.
“They are so, so helpful,” she said. “It’s basically my lifeline to make sure I stay OK.”
Many clients are afraid family ties will be jeopardized if they share their compulsion with those they are closest to.
“We’ve got people who were married decades and decades, and they are dealing with this on their own,” Clark said. “These people imagine they’ll never be invited to Thanksgiving again.”
Elizabeth said that rather than tell friends about her shoplifting addiction, she told them she had a DUI when the court ordered her to wear a GPS ankle device.
“It was more acceptable to say I had a DUI than ‘I got caught shoplifting,’ ” she said. “You hear of people getting DUIs, and people know I’m not an alcoholic. They thought that was just bad luck. That’s more acceptable than to say, ‘I have a shoplifting problem.’ ”
Kate Corrigan, president of the Orange County Criminal Defense Bar Assn., has worked with Clark and her team since the early 1990s.
“She is someone who is selfless,” Corrigan said. “She is someone who really takes great care in helping people turn their lives around…. She’s one of a kind.”
Although some of her clients arrive by court mandate, Clark doesn’t see criminals when she meets a client.
“We look at the person behind the crime,” she said. “There’s a story behind these people.”
In Clark’s office, dozens of awards and certificates line the bright teal walls — many from groups grateful for Clark’s work.
One portrait of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus stands out amid the checkerboard of frames. The gilt-framed picture was a gift she received while at the public defender’s office, where she worked from 1973 to 1990.
Beneath it, in Spanish, is this inscription: “Our lady of the sacred heart, lawyer of the difficult and desperate causes.”
“They said I work with hopeless causes,” Clark said. “Our motto is ‘There’s hope in every heartbeat.’ ”
Read more http://www.latimes.com/news/local/orange/la-me-shoplifting-20111030,0,1149879.story?track=rss
Nancy Clark calls them clients.
For 15 years, Clark has run a shoplifting addiction treatment program in Newport Beach. Many clients attend in lieu of possible jail or prison sentences.
Despite stereotypes about petty thieves snatching items out of financial desperation, many of the people in the program are well-to-do. They see shoplifting as an addiction that gives an endorphin rush on a par with drugs.
Nancy Clark & Associates Inc.’s treatment program enrolls only people who steal items they can afford. It is not for those who steal to support a drug or alcohol addiction — there’s another group for them.
Clark enforces a strict dress-and-grooming code during the 12-week program: No tank tops are allowed, men must be clean-shaven, and hats and sunglasses are forbidden.
“I don’t want somebody to look like the Unabomber when they come to my office in the morning,” she said.
That isn’t an issue for many in the largely female group. Many of the clients are professionals or publicly lauded in the community but quietly steal items to satisfy an urge often inspired by feelings of loneliness, anxiety or frustration in their personal lives.
“The clientele I work with usually can afford the products,” said program director Kathy Escher. “They are professionals…. The risk-taking in shoplifting can work as an antidepressant. It’s just like any other high with any other addiction. The pleasure area of the brain that’s stimulated can be addictive.”
Many of the stolen items are meaningless or unusable to those who take them. Clark knows of someone who stole a single shoe and another who amassed three storage units worth of items, spanning a 25-year “career.”
According to Clark, some shoplifters find their urges triggered by small stores filled with tchotchkes, while others feel a compulsion to act out in the aisles of big-box retailers.
The program aims for the root of why clients steal, emphasizing individual treatment coupled with group counseling to build a support network where they can share feelings that compel them to steal. By the group’s estimates, the recidivism rate of people who complete the program is 4%.
Elizabeth, 42, has been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years. She said Clark’s program helped her understand that she isn’t alone in her struggle with shoplifting.
“This is a real problem,” said Elizabeth, who spoke only on the condition that her last name not be used. “This is something you have to manage for the rest of your life. I’m a good, moral person. I know it’s wrong to steal…. For so long I didn’t realize why I was doing it. Basically, you’re trying to fill a need.”
Elizabeth has been in Clark’s program since her late 20s, and although she hasn’t stolen anything in eight years, she won’t go more than a few months without attending a group meeting.
“They are so, so helpful,” she said. “It’s basically my lifeline to make sure I stay OK.”
Many clients are afraid family ties will be jeopardized if they share their compulsion with those they are closest to.
“We’ve got people who were married decades and decades, and they are dealing with this on their own,” Clark said. “These people imagine they’ll never be invited to Thanksgiving again.”
Elizabeth said that rather than tell friends about her shoplifting addiction, she told them she had a DUI when the court ordered her to wear a GPS ankle device.
“It was more acceptable to say I had a DUI than ‘I got caught shoplifting,’ ” she said. “You hear of people getting DUIs, and people know I’m not an alcoholic. They thought that was just bad luck. That’s more acceptable than to say, ‘I have a shoplifting problem.’ ”
Kate Corrigan, president of the Orange County Criminal Defense Bar Assn., has worked with Clark and her team since the early 1990s.
“She is someone who is selfless,” Corrigan said. “She is someone who really takes great care in helping people turn their lives around…. She’s one of a kind.”
Although some of her clients arrive by court mandate, Clark doesn’t see criminals when she meets a client.
“We look at the person behind the crime,” she said. “There’s a story behind these people.”
In Clark’s office, dozens of awards and certificates line the bright teal walls — many from groups grateful for Clark’s work.
One portrait of the Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus stands out amid the checkerboard of frames. The gilt-framed picture was a gift she received while at the public defender’s office, where she worked from 1973 to 1990.
Beneath it, in Spanish, is this inscription: “Our lady of the sacred heart, lawyer of the difficult and desperate causes.”
“They said I work with hopeless causes,” Clark said. “Our motto is ‘There’s hope in every heartbeat.’ ”
Read more http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-shoplifting-20111030,0,3758520.story?track=rss
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A medical society for addiction doctors has reiterated its opposition to marijuana legalization as its California chapter considers voicing its support for allowing and regulating adult use of the drug as a way to prevent its abuse by adolescents.
Directors of the American Society for Addiction Medicine meeting in Washington are scheduled on Sunday to discuss a report from three of its top California members that recommends replacing the state’s besieged medical marijuana program with a system that treats and taxes pot like alcohol.
“The best course at this point is to replace the current system of medical marijuana dispensaries and physician recommendations with a more strictly regulated system in which physicians are no longer gatekeepers for access, and fees and taxes from marijuana sales preferentially support education, prevention, and intervention for youth with marijuana-related problems,” reads the 15-page California Society for Addiction Medicine report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press.
The provocative report is unlikely to produce any immediate changes in the national group’s anti-marijuana stance. Its board on Thursday restated its official position, last approved in 2006, that marijuana should not be legal for medical or recreational use until its health benefits and risks are more fully understood.
“We oppose any changes in law and regulation that would lead to a sudden significant increase in the availability of any dependence-producing drug,” the society’s board said in a statement. “This policy includes marijuana, a mood-altering drug capable of producing dependence as well as serious negative mental, emotional, behavioral and physical consequences.”
The move was not a response to the forthcoming recommendations from its California affiliate, but rather to the California Medical Association‘s endorsement earlier this month of decriminalizing recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and over, said Stuart Gitlow, acting president of the American Society for Addiction Medicine.
“It’s an old policy, but it’s obviously timely right now given CMA’s newly released policy,” Gitlow said. “We had been getting a number of phone calls asking if we had any sort of policy regarding the same subject matter.”
Both the American Society for Addiction Medicine and the American Medical Association have urged the federal government in recent years to review marijuana’s status as an addictive substance with no medical value so it would be easier for scientists to obtain the drug and conduct studies on its medical efficacy and physiological effects.
But doctors in California, which legalized marijuana use for residents with physician recommendations 15 years ago, have felt the need to go farther due to the proliferation of medical marijuana dispensaries and specialty clinics that some think run counter to their profession’s aims.
Earlier this month, the 53 trustees of the California Medical Association approved a new policy that made it the nation’s first professional medical society to support making marijuana use legal for adults 21 and over and regulating the drug like alcohol or tobacco.
Donald Lyman, who chaired the nine-member committee that produced the policy, said the call for complete decriminalization was a reluctant, but clear-eyed acknowledgement that the federal government needs to be pressured to promote research on pot’s medical potential, and also that the medical underpinnings of California’s medical marijuana system are flimsy at best.
“We have become the gatekeepers to a substance that is largely nonmedical and there is no gate,” Lyman said. “There is no regulatory structure we can hang our hats on to say, this stuff is helpful for certain conditions and if you are going to inject it into the brownie, you better make sure it doesn’t have salmonella. It’s the absence of that solid foundation for this activity that really, really troubles us.”
Similar assumptions buttress the report from the president and two past presidents of state addiction doctors group. It states that while marijuana already is easy to obtain in California, adolescents are most at risk of developing addictions or other ill effects and that allowing adults to use the drug legally would make it harder for under-age users to access the drug and provide income that could be funneled toward treatment for young people.
“It should be clear by now that it is impossible to stamp out drugs,” the report says. “This fact ultimately leads us to confront the inevitable choice: non-medical drug markets can remain in the hands of unregulated profiteers or they can be controlled and regulated by appropriate government authorities.”
California Society for Addiction Medicine Timmen Cermak, one of the report’s co-authors, said the document was submitted for a vote of the chapter’s membership last week, but that it was premature to reveal the outcome given the upcoming presentation at the national meeting.
Gitlow said it would take at least a year and a review by several committees for the national group to consider changing its anti-legalization policy. Under the American Society for Addiction Medicine’s bylaws, chapters are prohibited from taking positions that run counter to the national board’s, he said.
“The reason it is coming before us for discussion is to see if California intends for it to become one of their policies and if they do, what would have to happen for them to do that,” Gitlow said. “At the moment, what would have to happen is ASAM would have to have a policy consistent with that.”
Kevin Sabet, a former senior adviser to the president’s drug czar and a fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Substance Abuse Solutions, said relying on hoped-for treatment and research dollars as a rationale for legalization is naive, if not “a hijacking from the legalization movement” of California’s medical establishment.
“Last time I checked, anti-binge drinking and anti-drunk driving programs weren’t a dime a dozen,” Sabet said. “They are not that plentiful because there aren’t funds for these types of programs, and these drugs are already legal.”
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