substance abuse treatment

President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to "expand access to drug treatment, strengthen prevention options and address the scourge of drug addiction after hearing about many Americans' struggle with opiate abuse," CNN's Dan Merica reports. But the Republican health care plan Trump backs would end the requirement that states that have expanded Medicaid cover addiction-treatment services and mental health treatment.

Dr. Andrew Kolodny, the director of the Opioid Policy Research Collaborative at Brandeis University, told CNN the proposed change is a "step in the wrong direction at a time when America's most urgent public health crisis is an addictive disorder."

California has beautiful weather and environs, which has led the growth of destination facilities for people seeking treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions. But that also has led to California localities enacting zoning rules to clamp down on such facilities. Last week, the Ninth Circuit reversed summary judgment in favor of  Newport Beach over that locality's zoning rules designed to inhibit those facilities, the OC Weekly reported. "There is direct or circumstantial evidence that [city officials] acted with a discriminatory purpose and has caused harm to member of a protected class [and] such evidence is sufficient to permit the protected individuals to proceed to trial,"' the OC Weekly reported from the opinion summary.

Treatment Magazine commented: "Last week's ruling should give pause to nearby jurisdictions from Malibu down the coast to neighboring Costa Mesa, many of which have been considering ways to restrict what admittedly has been rampant growth of Six-Bed Model treatment centers, as well as sober living operations, over the last 20 years up and down the California coastline. That growth has made Southern California a close second in size to South Florida as the nation's largest 'destination' addiction treatment services marketplace with clientele descending from all corners." The full piece is here: http://www.treatmentmagazine.com/newswires/432-california-appeals-court-...

(Thanks to Laura Elliott-Engel, my super fabulous mother and president of the board of Friends of Recovery New York to alerting me to the opinion.)