AUTHORITIES CORRUPT, OR JUST ON THE TAKE? –
Jan. 14, 2022 – If the state wouldn’t crack down, local leaders said, Orange County would. County supervisors — save one — embraced the idea. Hopes were high.
But today, more than three years later, the envisioned registry does not exist.
The idea was that the registry would offer consumer-focused information, not medical advice.
“This is really designed just as a start, to have the addiction treatment places provide information on affiliated businesses, so if any conflicts of interest exist, that’s out there,” said Tracy Hughes, then the deputy district attorney who did much of the legwork on the new law, back in 2018.
“That’s the model skilled nursing facilities use. They have to declare businesses where they own a 5-percent-or-more stake. We’re trying to protect people by shedding a little more light.” The registry also would make it easier for law enforcement and the District Attorney to pursue bad actors. Businesses that failed to register honestly and completely would face a misdemeanor carrying fines of up to $1,000 and jail time of up to six months.
“There is a critical need to protect victims,” Kim told the supervisors in 2018.
