Resource Center

Stories

The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast.

These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need.

Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:



Search results for "drug treatment centers" ...

  • The Perfect Drug

    This investigation is an in-depth look at the role methamphetamine plays in Phoenix, Arizona. The reporters explored and dispelled various myths about the drug. They also traced the community's problem to a Mexican supply, and found that the drug even had a presence in elementary school.

    Tags: drugs; addiction; rehabilitation; DEA; meth; meth labs; treatment centers; pseudoephedrin

    By Joe Watson;Robert Nelson;Paul Rubin;Sarah Fenske;Jimmy Magahern;Rick Barrs;Amy Silverman

    New Times (Phoenix)

    2005

  • Suffering Together

    A New Times investigation discovered that physical and psychological abuse of children was common at Growing Together, a drug treatment center for adolescents in Lake Worth, Florida. The facility was founded as an offshoot of Straight Inc., which shuttered in 1993 following a state investigation that discovered political influence kept the program in operation despite findings of child abuse. Through public records, New Times found that children were systematically neglected, humiliated, and abused, and forced into subduing other kids at Growing Together.

    Tags: drug treatment centers; drug treatment centers for children; child abuse; adolescent drug rehabilitation; Growing Together; Straight Inc.

    By Trevor Aaronson

    New Times (Broward - Palm Beach, FL)

    2004

  • Abused, drugged and unprotected: Mentally ill children suffer in state-paid treatment centers

    Ohio's system for handling mentally ill children is wrought with flaws. Parents are often forced to give custody of their children to the county they live in before the county will help pay to treat their mental illness. Even then, kids don't always get the help they need. "Ohio counties place more than 7,000 children a year in centers where some are abused, molested, and improperly drugged." The article is full of horrible stories about mistreatment paid for by taxpayer money.

    Tags: abuse; hospitals; psychology; psychiatric ward; medicine; antidepressants; prescription drugs

    By Debra Jasper;Spencer Hunt

    Cincinnati Enquirer

    None

  • Armed and Dangerous

    WKMG found the State of Florida issuing concealed weapons permits to people who were prohibited by Federal and state law from even possessing guns because they were involuntarily committed by judges to mental institutions or drug-and-alcohol-treatment centers. The politically potent National Rifle Association and its allies have stifled any discussion in Florida about using public records to check on the mental health of the gun buyers. They claim the information is private, but this investigation shows how easily it could be done--if wanted to. This tape also looks at cases of mentally ill patients who have walked into public places like churches and opened fire to kill people.

    Tags: TAPE; gun; National Rifle Association; NRA; mental; Florida; weapon; concealed weapon; permit; judge; mental institution; drug treatment; alcohol treatment; public records; mental health; gun buyer; privacy; concealed weapon permit; drug and alcohol treatment; psychotic disorder; concealed weapon permit holder; concealed weapon permit program; US Marshall Service; kill; concealed firearm; scheme; mental health record; health record; Florida legislature; gun control law; mentally ill; killing

    By Tony Pipitone;Darran Caudle;Tim Arnheim;Brent Singleton

    WKMG-TV (Orlando, Fla.)

    2003

  • Throwaway Kids: Broken Promises; Curse or Cure? Desperate Children, Haphazard Care; Where New York Lags, Milwaukee Succeeds

    A Journal News investigation into New York's care system for mentally ill children exposes abuse and neglect. Some of the most needy children are sent to residential treatment centers, which "are costly to taxpayers, yet function without adequate standards of oversight and without a means to evaluate the effectiveness of the care." A major finding is that the facilities increasingly use psychotropic drugs to keep the kids under control. Instead of helping children improve their conditions and returning them to their communities -- as a model Wisconsin program has achieved -- the New York system is overhauled.

    Tags: emotionally disturbed teenagers; crime; police; arrests; school; orphanages; Department of Social Services; juvenile justice

    By Jorge Fitz-Gibbon;Leah Rae;Dwight R. Worley;Shawn Cohen

    The Journal News (White Plains

    2002

  • East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Drug Court Program

    The Advocate reports on how federal grants have been recklessly spent by the East Baton Rouge Parish Juvenile Justice Court on high executive salaries. The stories reveal that the Straight and Narrow Drug Treatment Center, one of about 30 drug courts in the state, has failed to effectively supervise the drug-addicted children who graduated from the program. The investigation finds that the key players behind the faulty drug treatment programs - including two judges, an attorney and his roommate - are entangled in bizarre legal accusations of sexual harassment and racially motivated attacks.

    Tags: courts; minorities; racial problems; drugs; federal funds; drug addicts; sexual harassment; public records; conflicts of interests

    By Christopher Baughman

    Advocate (Baton Rouge, La.)

    2001

  • Patients don't get full story on doctors

    San Francisco Chronicle reports on the lack of information about malpractice verdicts on the website of the Medical Board of California. The story reveals that the public database omits records on doctors' misdemeanors, remedial actions (like drug and alcohol treatment programs), malpractice settlements, various lawsuits, complaints, detailed information on formal discipline, etc. Consumers are required to write the Medical Board for detailed information, and often wait for weeks to get a response. Wallack points to three high-dollar verdicts against negligent doctors, which were not included in the state board's database.

    Tags: San Diego's Center for Public Interest Law; physicians; licensing; incompetence; negligence

    By Todd Wallack

    San Francisco Chronicle

    2002

  • Veil of Secrecy

    KSTP found government workers who accepted illegal gifts and perks to help keep beds full at two drug and alcohol treatment centers in the Twin Cities. Owners of the treatment centers routinely accepted rapists, murderers and child molesters while reassuring elected officials and neighbors they didn't accept violent criminals. All of it at taxpayers' expense. KSTP also documented how the owners of the treatment centers ignored staff concerns abut inadequate security. At least three of the staff members were sexually assaulted by clients who had violent criminal histories.

    Tags: CAR TAPE

    By Gary Hill;Jay Kolls;Tim Jones;Jon Menell;Jim Barnum

    KSTP-TV (St. Paul, Minn.)

    1996

  • When Cure Becomes Cause: Hospital Hazards

    The News Tribune reports that "High-tech medicine, drug-resistant bacteria, changes in health care increase patients' risk of acquiring diseases they didn't have... Hospitals are supposed to help you get better, not worse. But 1 out of every 20 people who enter the hospital acquire an illness they didn't have on arrival. These hospital-acquired infections, called nosocomials, help kill 80,000 to 100,000 people a year nationwide... CDC experts say the high rate of hospital infections is unacceptable..."

    Tags: Hospitals; doctors; nurses; treatment; risks; Center for Disease Control; infection-control guidelines

    By Adam Berlaint;Elaine Porterfield

    News Tribune (Tacoma, Wash.)

    1995

  • No title (id: 8801)

    Tulsa (Okla.) Tribune gives account of the efforts by the Church of of Scientology to open a drug-treatment center in a northern Oklahoma town; the proposed Narcanon Chilocco New Life Center encountered opposition from state agencies and local officials who raised concerns as to the credibility of the center, March 9 - 12, 1992.

    Tags: None

    By None

    Tribune (Tulsa, Okla.)

    1992