As heroin and OxyContin addiction reaches epidemic proportions in Massachusetts, the state has yet to restore funding for treatment facilities and services that was cut from the state budget.

The state has significantly reduced its detox beds from 960 to 431 and cut six of its 22 addiction treatment programs. As a result, hundreds of addicted individuals who need help are turned away.
"They kept telling me to call back the next day until they could find a bed," said Laurie, a mother now 45 days sober and enrolled at the Emerson House in Falmouth. "I wanted to die. You're dead already, but how much lower can you go when you can't even get into treatment?"

Last year's budget cuts have left the Public Health Commission in Boston with 160 detox beds this year, down from 320. "When we lost more than 50 percent, it got to the point that more people were being turned away than were being helped," said John Auerbach, executive director of the Boston Health Commission.
Auerbach estimates that more than 200 people are denied treatment each month, up from last year's monthly rate of 40.
Although Gov. Mitt Romney moved to provide $11.9 million in a supplemental budget, critics said the amount isn't enough to address the problem. Currently, the state Department of Public Health is awaiting results from three panels examining the state's addiction needs and resources. |||

Calif. Orders Probe of Narconon Program

California Schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell has ordered the state Department of Education to investigate Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, an anti-drug program being used by schools throughout the state whose curriculum has been linked to the teachings of the Church of Scientology.

The program has been used in schools across the United States for more than two decades, but some addiction experts contend that Narconon's medical theories reflect the teachings of the Church of Scientology and are not scientifically accurate. "We have an obligation to inform school districts of potentially inaccurate and misleading information being distributed," O'Connell said.
In California, the program has been presented in at least 20 school districts, including those in San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In San Francisco, Superintendent Arlene Ackerman ordered Narconon to revise parts of its curriculum by June 24 or be banned from the district.

Narconon President Clark Carr said. "We have not received any questions from the state Department of Education. But we understand that the San Francisco schools and the state have concerns to ensure that the children get the best drug education -- and that's our concern, too."|||