Addiction and Recovery

Sex Offenders, Narcotics Convicts Working As California Drug Counselors?

A look at California's substance abuse counselors found that at least 23 of them were convicted sex offenders, with many having rape or child molestation on their records. That's according to a California Senate Rules Committee study of our lack of oversight for drug counselors in the Golden State:

Remembering Possum Dixon's Celso Chavez

Celso Chavez was a mainstay on the Los Angeles music scene for many years, most prominently as guitarist for alt-rock group Possum Dixon, who were featured on an L.A. Weekly cover in 1998. He died one year ago today, May 9, 2012, from a staph infection and pneumonia related to years of drug abuse. ... More >>

At the Prism Awards, Hollywood Honors Accurate Portrayals of Mental illness

Hollywood has a checkered history of covering mental health and substance abuse, reaching bottom with Nightmare on Elm Street. A young Johnny Depp played the killer as a schizophrenic, imprinting that image of mental illness on millions. To counteract such stigma, the Entertainment Industry Counci ... More >>

Lohan Gets 90 Days In Locked Rehab; Courthouse Glitter Bombing Caught On Video

Lindsay Lohan today pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges as part of a plea deal that will put her in a locked-up rehab facility. But the big news is that she was glitter bombed as she entered the LAX courthouse in Del Aire this morning. And it was all captured on video:

Richard Bradford, Murder Parolee, Ran Drug Rehab Center Endorsed By Mayor Villaraigosa

A murder convict on parole who's been off the radar since 1980 was arrested in Monrovia over the weekend, state officials announced today. And what has Richard Bradford been up to? According to the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), he's been running "a high-end drug rehabil ... More >>

Jerry Stahl Discusses His New Book About Heroin, the Drug That Nearly Destroyed Him

Jerry Stahl knows heroin — the good, the bad and the literary. That's why Stahl was the perfect choice to be editor of The Heroin Chronicles, an anthology of 13 chasing-the-dragon stories by junkies and ex-junkies. Released Jan. 1, the third entry in the Akashic Drug Chronicles Series (after T ... More >>

Steve Earle & Allison Moorer

Paris Hilton and Her Critics Should Read L.A. Weekly Cover Story 'Gay Happiness'

A lot of folks were jumping on the anti-Paris Hilton bandwagon last week, slamming her for saying "most" gay men have AIDS, among other things. The one-time grand marshall of the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade eventually apologized. It wasn't the smartest stuff coming out of Hilton's mouth, and obvi ... More >>

How's That "Millennium of Aftermath" Going?

See also: *Here Are Pictures of Dr. Dre's New $13 Million House *The Best Hip-Hop Albums of 2012 Thus Far It was November of 1999 and we were on the cusp of the millennium when Dr. Dre famously proclaimed that the next one thousand years would be "the millennium of Aftermath," on the song "Forgot A ... More >>

Mickey Avalon, Everyone's Favorite Former Heroin Addict and Male Prostitute, Rides Again

See also: Mickey Avalon's True Hollywood stories Mickey Avalon, party rapper extraordinaire, is set to drop his new solo album Loaded today. We last checked in with him for a 2006 cover story depicting his utterly-wild ways; plenty has happened for him in the ensuing years, including many shows and ... More >>

Comedian Moshe Kasher's Memoir Kasher In The Rye: 'I Was Violent. I Was Sexist. I Was a Pig.'

To say Moshe Kasher had a tumultuous upbringing would be an understatement at best. The 32-year-old comedian and author now appears regularly on E!'s Chelsea Lately and his clean-cut look, slicked back hair with thick black glasses, appears to dispel the notion of any momentous regrets. But Kasher I ... More >>

Food Can Be More Addictive Than Crack, Scientist Says

The next time you wonder why you can't get that intense craving for steak fries and a large chocolate milkshake out of your head, ask yourself -- are you addicted? Some people say yes. Food can potentially be more addictive than cocaine.  Although the theory remains controversial, according to ... More >>

Marijuana Smoker Norman Smith Booted From Cedars Sinai Hospital Liver Transplant List: Medical Pot Advocates Outraged

​Medical marijuana advocates are getting behind the plight of a cancer patient who says he has been kicked off a liver transplant list at Cedars Sinai Medical Center because he smokes medical marijuana. The California-based group Americans for Safe Access has sent a letter to the Beverly Hill ... More >>

Is Brad Sherman A Scientologist? Wikipedia Says Yes

​Brad Sherman is engaged in a political battle to the death with fellow Congressman Howard Berman. But over the last month, he's also been waging an epic struggle against some anonymous guy on Wikipedia.On Sept. 15, Mr. Anonymous changed Sherman's religion from Jewish to Scientologist. The new ver ... More >>

Marijuana Could be Used to Treat Cocaine Addiction, According to Federal Research

A joint will fix you right up.​Are you one of those partiers who gets caught in this cycle: You're a little plastered, so you reach for the nearest line of cocaine. Then you're a little too up, so you reach for the nearest joint. And so on. (Coughs -- Lindsay Lohan. Joking). Maybe you're onto ... More >>

Scientology Drug Rehab: Danette Elliott Sues Narconon Vista Bay for $1M, Says She Was Duped Into Church-Sponsored Program

​Like many people searching for alcohol addiction treatment, Danette Elliott turned to the Internet, where she found a site offering to help locate the "best drug rehab." The service recommended a program at the Narconon Vista Bay facility near Santa Cruz, trumpeting its effectiveness. According ... More >>

Happy Birthday, Mr. Governor: Jerry Brown's Low Rent Birthday Cake

Happy Birthday, Governor Brown. Jerry Brown tweeted his surprise (and characteristically low rent) birthday party yesterday -- the governor turned 73 on Thursday, April 7th -- which appears, via YouTube, to have involved a traditional sheet cake, a venue that resembles the setting of an AA meeting, ... More >>

Marijuana Pain Reliever Without 'Unwanted Highs' Possible: L.A. Pot Shops Frightened at Prospect

Pain relief.​Q: What do you call marijuana without the high? A: A waste of time. But seriously, results of a new study published at NewScientist suggest that the pain relieving qualities of weed can be isolated from the psychedelic qualities, rendering a more medically focused remedy. You ... More >>

Sex Addiction: The New Obsession in Los Angeles

Is Charlie Sheen a sex addict?​Botox? Hair replacement? Christian Louboutin? No. The latest obsession in the City of Angels, it seems, is self-reflection about one's sexual urges. Yeah, sex addiction and treatment of such has become big business, thanks to publicity given to Tiger Woods and m ... More >>

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO DRUG HUMOR?

Lindsay Lohan Loses Role As Porn Star Linda Lovelace; News Hard To Swallow

Lohan loses porn-star role.​You know you're, er, going down as an actor when you're not even suitable to play a porn star. That's the latest rap for Lindsay Lohan, who was set to make a comeback of sorts as Linda Lovelace in Inferno. Reports state that the movie's producers couldn't get insur ... More >>

Tonight: Perfume Genius, the Black Keys, Guster, Jerry Lee Lewis, Sara Bareilles, Bettye LaVette, Funeral Party

Perfume Genius​Mike Hadreas, the 28-year-old Seattle-based pianist who makes music as Perfume Genius, creates hyper-emotional ballads so fragile a stiff breeze might knock them over. He's found plenty of strength in the them, though -- Hadreas turned to the keyboard to quell the inner turmoil ... More >>

THERE'S NO BEAT LIKE A FREE BEAT

Burton

Lily Burk's Killer Pleads Guilty, Avoids Death Sentence

An ex-con pleaded guilty this afternoon to the murder of Lily Burk, a 17-year-old Los Feliz girl who was kidnapped and later killed inside her car near downtown Los Angeles. Lily Burk​Charlie Samuel, 50, avoided the death penalty by pleading to the July 24, 2009 slaying. He faces life in pris ... More >>

Mark Casanova: The Rescuer

Over the Weekend: Beat Swap Meet and DJ Battle in Chinatown

Rafael Cardenas​Flocks of vinyl junkies filled the Grand Star Jazz Club in Chinatown on Sunday and transformed the indoor/outdoor space into the Beat Swap Meet, a treasure-trove for record collectors. Sunday marked two years since the start of the 12-inch and 7-inch record celebration and fe ... More >>

Talking the Pith Out of Kathy Griffin

Talking the Pith Out of Kathy Griffin

HOW DO YOU SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE MACKENZIE?

IT'S NOT "CHOC-OHOLICS" — IT'S CHOCOLAT-ICS

Memorial Day to Remember

Wet, Retox Detox Sundays, Open Air Sundays, Dedmau5, One Night Stand and more

Pretty in Pinksy

Proposition 5: The Most Threatening (to the Prison Industrial Complex)

More drug treatment means fewer criminals, and fewer criminals could mean fewer prisons

Best Yogi Rock: Vinnie Marino

Last Dances

Susan Partovi

Medicine woman

The Secret Lives of Boys

Inside the old spirits, indie fucks, gay best friends and outlaws

The Other Tehran

Iranian crowd pleasers on Los Angeles screens

Mississippi Madness

Mississippi Madness

The Hallucinogenic Way of Dying

Can psilocybin reduce death anxiety in end-stage cancer patients?

Drugs, Guns and Money

Busted, a new anthology, and the case for legalization

Letters

Cocaine Index

Less Than Zero

The new age of intolerance

Things Fall Apart

If your mother can’t take care of you, who will? The story of Sophie’s boys

Test on Trial

Drug-testing patch is suspect, as is its main proponent

Hop Dreams

Passing through the "I" of a needle

The Trip