QUANTITY NOT QUALITY –
Feb. 16, 2025 – THE ACTRESS was drunk. Again. She was trying to live sober after leaving Passages Malibu, a tony rehabilitation center nestled into the hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles, and it wasn’t going well. She wanted to go back. • Alex Shohet, of Red Door Life, defends his treatment of his clients. “I give a shit more than almost anybody I know,” he says. As a former addict, he says he cares deeply about helping people recover. …
Southern California has long been home to some of the most high-end rehab centers. An October report from the California state auditor found that the number of treatment facilities in the state is growing, with high concentrations of beds in wealthy Orange and Los Angeles counties. It also found that the DHCS “does not always conduct prompt compliance inspections or complaint investigations” of addiction treatment
facilities. A spokesperson for DHCS said the agency is improving its processes and compliance oversight.
“It’s turned into the wild, wild West,” says Kurt Garbe, an L.A.-based addiction professional who has worked in the industry for more than 30 years and is currently executive vice president of marketing at PCH Treatment Center. “In the last 15 years, it has exploded dramatically in terms of the volume of treatment centers, and private equity has stepped into our world.”
Former addicts and their family members say that checking into rehab is an important step in recovery. But they concede that not all rehabs are equal, and that price does not necessarily align with quality.
