When Minnesota Teen Challenge (MNTC) responded to my recent blog entry about their anti-drug program, they cited a "study" to back their claims of being an effective treatment for addiction.

What this paper actually shows is how easy it is produce good...

Our coverage of the possible nomination of Rep. Jim Ramstad as "drug czar" has kicked up quite a fuss, spurring many comments here and a sign-on letter by addiction professionals that was cited by John Tierney in this week's New York Times.

Nearly 300...

If his opposition to needle exchange and maintenance treatment for addictions isn't enough to convince you that Jim Ramstad isn't qualified to serve in Obama's cabinet as "drug czar," how about an earmark funding a Christian addiction "program" that uses outdated and abusive tactics and tries to "complete" Jews?...

I have long argued, sometimes jokingly, that the solution to many drug policy problems is better drugs. If a drug was developed that did not produce physical dependence, did not create an escalating desire for more that interfered with work or love, reliably produced a high and was not physically...

Due to the incredible response to my last post on this issue-- thank you everyone who responded and who forwarded it and who took action-- I was asked to write more about the possible nomination of Jim Ramstad as drug czar for Mother Jones and why it is a bad...

On paper, Jim Ramstad -- who is rumored to be Obama's choice for drug czar -- looks like the ideal man for the job . He's a recovering alcoholic himself and a Congressman who championed legislation recently passed to provide equal insurance coverage for addictions and other mental illnesses....

A presidential candidate dumps his wife of 15 years to marry a younger woman. His new wife -- whose multimillion dollar fortune comes from booze -- steals painkillers from a charity, forges prescriptions and causes a doctor to lose his license because of her lies and manipulation to feed her...

Are the evil internets trying to hook your children on aural drugs? Either USA Today and ABC News don't read the opinion columns they post on their websites, or the mainstream media is so far gone that it's beyond help.

From the column in question, by a radio...

The House Wednesday overwhelming passed HR 6358 (formerly HR 5876) by a vote of 318-103, with provisions to ban degrading and humiliating treatment, set national standards, create a national hotline that must be accessible to teens in program to report maltreatment and $15 million in funding for enforcement and regulation.

As readers of this blog know, I have long been fighting to expose and hopefully eliminate the abuses in the "troubled teen" industry -- a billion dollar business that enrolls anywhere from 20,000- 100,000 teens in residential programs varying from wilderness sites to "therapeutic" boarding schools.

(My book...

Congressman George Miller recently introduced strong legislation to fight abuse in teen boot camps and other "tough love" residential facilities. But the version that passed the House Education and Labor Committee in May is not the version that will be voted on by the House next Tuesday.

A new "bipartisan"...

Finally, the end may be in sight for residential programs that sell child abuse as therapy for teens. The House of Representatives will vote next Friday on HR 5876, the Stop Child Abuse in Residential Programs for Teens Act of 2008, introduced by California Rep. George Miller.

For years,...

A few years back, I got the chance to visit Duke University's Brain Tumor Center to co-write a story with Dr. Henry Friedman, their top neuro-oncologist. He co-directs the center along with Dr. Allan Friedman (they are not related), who just operated on Ted Kennedy. Dr. Henry Friedman will likely...

Two things I want to call attention to: first, last week, the House Education and Labor Committee approved historic legislation to begin to regulate tough love programs for teens like boot camps and "therapeutic" boarding schools. It was mostly a party line vote, 27-16-- but several Republicans did...

At the end of April, Congress held hearings to introduce legislation that could be the beginning of the end for the unregulated "troubled teen" industry and its use of tactics that Government Accountability Office investigators have labeled "torture." My article on the hearings and on an attorney who has been...

Rep. George Miller (D-CA) will introduce legislation tomorrow, aimed at reining in the billion dollar "troubled teen" industry, which, according to the New York Times, detained about 100,000 children and adolescents as of 2005-- a number which had quadrupled in 10 years.

Right now, many states...

When prosecutors want to convict a doctor of "drug dealing," they often sow suspicions by alerting the media. But in a Kansas case, they appear to be fighting dirty by trying to prevent the other side from speaking out.

The pattern can be seen most famously in coverage...

When I wrote recently about the Judge Rotenberg Center -- the facility for autistic kids and other children with "behavior problems" that uses electric shock to gain compliance -- I asked rhetorically what it might take to shut it down. If the latest incident doesn't do it, I simply...

For a reason which they refuse to disclose, eBay decided recently to suspend my account.

I don't know why -- maybe it's their idea of a lengthy April Fool's joke. It's definitely a catch-22 -- and one of those little things that eat your time and incite rage for...

The Wire's David Simon has posted a fascinating and exasperated cri de coeur -- calling the media and critics to task for failing to note a key point he tried to make in the show's final season. While the Mayor was failing to fix the troubled schools, cops were...