7-28-08
To Whom it May Concern,
Pathway Family Center (PFC) is one of the flagship adolescent drug treatment programs supported by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). While offering drug treatment to potential clients from all fifty states and other countries, PFC continues to physically and psychologically abuse and torture its clients on a daily basis. Numerous complaints and allegations of abuse and torture have been lodged against PFC by reputable sources including former clients and ISAC Corporation
www.isaccorp.org . The licensing and accrediting agencies in the states of Arizona, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio continue to reject these complaints. This is a case of former clients broadcasting a most urgent plea to end the abuse and torture being endured by current PFC clients. It is also one in which the respective authorities are willfully denying humane treatment and justice to these adolescents.
What makes it acceptable in the United States of America to systematically abuse and torture adolescents for monetary gain? Why does PFC enjoy the recognition by the White House and the ONDCP as one of the flagship drug treatment programs for adolescents? Why does the government even allow this type of treatment to exist?
Anyone who follows the history of PFC will see that this program simply continued the drug treatment activities of STRAIGHT, Inc., after that company changed its name to the Straight Foundation. The Straight Foundation, under the leadership of Mel and Betty Sembler, who were co-founders of STRAIGHT, Inc., yet again changed its name to the Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF). By 1993, the treatment programs having the name of STRAIGHT, Inc. were erroneously reported to have been shut down in all of the states in which they did business. Licensing agencies in several states across the country required this action due to rampant claims of abuse against adolescents and young adults under the STRAIGHT, Inc. name. Later that year, former management of the STRAIGHT, Inc. facility in Michigan incorporated PFC as an outpatient drug treatment program for adolescents and it received 501c3 status from the IRS. They expanded into Indiana in 1994 and then into Ohio in 2006. Under the STRAIGHT, Inc. umbrella, other corporate name changes and shuffling of program locations have occurred. Licensing agencies throughout Michigan, Indiana and Ohio have made numerous special exceptions for PFC to ensure that the program continues unabated into the future.
Currently, the DFAF is working in conjunction with the ONDCP to promote drug prevention and awareness activities. Former STRAIGHT, Inc. executives are actively involved with these efforts. Bill Oliver, former Executive Director of STRAIGHT, Inc. sells software for creating Community Action Drug Coalitions (CADC) throughout the country via the Internet. CADC’s provide a rich environment from which clients of PFC are and can be acquired. They also work with PFC to warn parents about potential problems their children may have with drugs. In Indiana, at least one CADC provided PFC with large sums of money through solicited donations and lobbied for appropriations from Porter County taxpayers.
PFC operates adolescent drug treatment programs in Michigan, Indiana and one that is a “locked facility” in Milford Ohio. The Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services (ODADAS) currently licenses their Ohio facility. The PFC programs are accredited by the Arizona based Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF). John Walters, who is the director of the ONDCP, along with a graduate of PFC shared a photo-op with President Bush in the White House at the end of 2007. This meeting took place during the ONDCP National Inhalants and Poison Awareness Week campaign.
Any drug treatment program that uses the STRAIGHT, Inc. treatment modality should be required to cease this activity. It has been linked to documented cases of PTSD, numerous life-long negative physical and emotional side effects including both suicide and attempted suicide, divorce, and overall acute family dysfunction.
It is time for the agencies charged with enforcing rules, statutes, codes, and policies to do a more thorough job and permanently shut down this program. These respective agencies have been ignoring complaints, denying agency responsibility and jurisdiction, and granting special exceptions to PFC for many years. No child should be abused in the name of treatment.
How this issue will be resolved remains to be seen. It is my hope that it will be sooner than later.
Sincerely,
William Earnshaw, Sr.
President, ISAC Corporation
www.isaccorp.org