Drug Rehabilitation Programs

God himself pulled the needle out of Sonny Arguinzoni's arm, or so the story goes. Grateful, the high school dropout, part-time purse snatcher and hope-to-die heroin addict repaid the miracle with one of his own. From an apartment in a Boyle Heights housing project, Arguinzoni started a Christian ministry. He called it Victory Outreach International and became Pastor Sonny to a flock that over three decades has swelled to 30,000.

Plans for a 27-bed West Hollywood rehab center have neighbors demanding to know how a luxury facility offering drug and alcohol treatment to an elite clientele could end up within blocks of one of the city's most famous nightlife scenes. "We're half a block from all the bars and clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard, and there are drug dealers that trawl the neighborhood, especially at the weekend," said Norma Sandler, who has lived in an apartment on the same street as the proposed Klean West Hollywood treatment center for more than 30 years.

Mike M. is a user, an addict, a lean, fidgety man in a gray tweedsuit who struggles every day to stay straight. That's particularly hard around here because on every street corner all over this town, his drug of choice is being sold in heart-pounding, high-grade doses. The monkey is everywhere, calling Mike's name. "The thing is, I have a short memory.

The morning of her second day at Starpoint Surgery Center in Studio City, nurse Melony Currier was found in the parking lot, passed out in her car. Once roused, she was escorted to a drug-testing facility to provide a urine sample. In the restroom, she injected an anesthetic she had stolen from the surgery center, according to state records and a Starpoint official.

Centinela Hospital Medical Center in Inglewood is shutting its chemical dependency program because of reductions in insurance reimbursements, a hospital spokesman said Thursday. The spokesman, Paul Silva, declined to say when the program will close. The hospital released a brief written statement saying that it has made arrangements to have patients in the program enter other programs in the Los Angeles area.

Mark Reed, 15, is soft-spoken and polite, his eyes reflective of the intelligence that has earned him respect as one of the better chess players among his peers. Three months ago, Reed played a different kind of game, with members of his Hawthorne-based gang, Kings Takin' Respect. The pieces: a TEC-9 semiautomatic handgun and drugs--speed, coke and pot.

Hollywood rehab can produce unhappy endings, even when the patient isn't named Lindsay or Britney. That's what Kelly Logan learned when he sought treatment for a methamphetamine addiction at Promises Malibu, detox destination to the stars. Logan's brother, Garfield, says he paid $42,000 up front to admit the former professional surfer for a month at Promises' canyon-top Mediterranean-style home. Five days later, he says, Promises kicked Logan out for belligerent behavior but kept all the money.

Hollywood actor and activist Martin Sheen, whose famous son survived a drug and alcohol overdose more than two years ago, came to Ventura County on Saturday to thank the people who help make recovery possible. Sheen, who gave up drinking more than a decade ago, was one of several speakers at a party hosted by Vista del Mar, a Ventura hospital that treats chemical dependency and behavioral and psychiatric disorders.

"Frasier" star Kelsey Grammer is checking himself into the Betty Ford Center for treatment of substance abuse--an action that will delay production of his Emmy Award-winning NBC series. It remains unclear what the production delay will mean for the program, which has won the Emmy as best comedy series three consecutive years and just began its fourth season. Two new episodes of "Frasier" have aired thus far, and the network indicated that two or three others have been completed.

In an industrial zone a few blocks off the 101 Freeway, the Tarzana Treatment Center relies on government contracts and nonprofit tax status to serve drug addicts in poverty or trouble with the law. A clerk sits behind protective glass in the lobby. Down a hallway in the detox wing, down-and-out men are curled on their cots. The coat hooks in the rooms flip down so patients can't hang themselves. It hardly seems like the headquarters of a $45-million-a-year business.

In an industrial zone a few blocks off the 101 Freeway, the Tarzana Treatment Center relies on government contracts and nonprofit tax status to serve drug addicts in poverty or trouble with the law. A clerk sits behind protective glass in the lobby. Down a hallway in the detox wing, down-and-out men are curled on their cots. The coat hooks in the rooms flip down so patients can't hang themselves. It hardly seems like the headquarters of a $45-million-a-year business.

Former Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler is going to spend more time in rehab. A court commissioner in Los Angeles agreed Friday to place Adler in a state-sanctioned drug rehabilitation program and keep Adler out of prison. Adler's court appearance came a day after TV audiences watched him graduate from a drug-treatment program that is the focus of VH1's show "Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew." Los Angeles police arrested the rocker in July. He was charged with felony drug possession and a misdemeanor count of being under the influence of drugs.

The battle over an initiative that would divert drug offenders from prison into treatment and loosen state parole policies has intensified heading into Tuesday's vote, with a bipartisan coalition of elected officials joining the state prison guards union to fight the measure. Supporters of Proposition 5, whose heavy fundraising advantage has been whittled down, have cast opponents as shills for the California Correctional Peace Officers Assn.

Martin Sheen, the politically liberal actor who has advocated a tough-love approach to drug addiction, is teaming up with California law-and-order groups to lead the charge against an initiative that would increase funding for rehabilitation programs. The No on Proposition 5 Campaign announced Wednesday that Sheen would serve as its co-chairman and as the most prominent figure in the battle against the November ballot measure. The opponents said the initiative is too soft on addicts because it would expand the pool of offenders who could be diverted from serving jail or prison time by undergoing treatment.

A federal judge has dismissed a $250-million lawsuit brought by a citizens' group opposed to the proliferation of addiction recovery homes against the city's largest provider, Sober Living by the Sea. The lawsuit filed by Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach originally named the city, City Council and 10 addiction recovery providers; the group had previously settled or dismissed claims against all the groups except for Sober Living by the Sea. ...

A citizens group that vocally opposes sober living homes in Newport Beach dropped its $250-million federal lawsuit against the city and City Council on Friday, city officials said. Concerned Citizens of Newport Beach, which has been fighting against addiction recovery homes that they complain create noise, traffic and secondhand smoke, will instead focus on community education and political activism, said the group's chief executive, Denys Oberman. "People look at this as a sign of defeat or failure," Oberman said.

San Fernando Gardens is among nine city Housing Authority facilities that will share equally in a $2.1-million federal grant for drug elimination efforts. Awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the grant will help bring law enforcement and social services programs to each housing project.

Plans for a 27-bed West Hollywood rehab center have neighbors demanding to know how a luxury facility offering drug and alcohol treatment to an elite clientele could end up within blocks of one of the city's most famous nightlife scenes. "We're half a block from all the bars and clubs on Santa Monica Boulevard, and there are drug dealers that trawl the neighborhood, especially at the weekend," said Norma Sandler, who has lived in an apartment on the same street as the proposed Klean West Hollywood treatment center for more than 30 years.

Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler now says that his recent stint in rehab was to help him through a developing addiction to pain and sleeping medications he was taking after recent foot surgery. "I just put the brakes on and checked into detox and just pulled the plug on all of it," Tyler told the Associated Press while promoting the new "Guitar Hero 3: Aerosmith" edition dedicated to his band's music. Tyler announced in May that he had checked into a rehab facility following foot surgery this year, but didn't say whether it was for physical rehabilitation of the foot or for other reasons.

The largest operator of sober-living homes in Newport Beach has agreed to preliminarily cut by a third the number of beds it provides at its drug and alcohol recovery facilities to settle a discrimination suit the company brought against the city. Sober Living by the Sea sued Newport Beach in February, alleging that the city discriminated against recovering drug and alcohol users by passing an ordinance that curbed operations at its facilities.