• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Hythiam Announces City of Las Vegas Municipal Drug Court to Implement PROMETA(R) Treatment Program

Posted on: Tuesday, 11 September 2007, 09:00 CDT

Hythiam, Inc. (NASDAQ:HYTM) today announced that the city of Las Vegas will begin an assessment of the PROMETA® Treatment Program for offenders referred by its municipal HOPE Court, a specialized court that focuses on habitual offenders. Using an 'implement and assess' approach, the first 20 offenders under the supervision of the Honorable Cedric Kerns, Judge of the Las Vegas Municipal Court, will be treated free of any licensing fees, with funding to commence upon the treatment of the 21st participant within this drug court population. Access to the PROMETA Treatment Program will be provided through established PROMETA providers in the Las Vegas area.

Judge Kerns is a member of the American Judges Association where he has served as delegate and governor representing the state of Nevada, and in 2006 he was chosen as Outstanding Judge of the Year by the Nevada Judges Association. He is the presiding Judge over Las Vegas Municipal Court's HOPE Court, or Habitual Offender Prevention and Education, an alternative approach to sentencing that offers repeat offenders structured programs to try to help them rebuild their lives.

"In my years of operating a specialty court it has always been my policy to implement innovative practices that I have learned about from my peers in other drug courts and criminal justice programs," said Judge Kerns. "I am excited to have the opportunity to evaluate the PROMETA Treatment Program as it will be offered as a treatment option in my court. I am hopeful that our use of this program will increase significantly if we begin to experience the success that has been reported by other programs."

Las Vegas is not only Nevada's largest city, but one of America's fastest growing major cities. Due to its geographic location, Las Vegas is an easy access point for drugs coming in from south of the border, making it a hotspot for drug availability. It also reported that an estimated 180,000 Nevadans needed substance abuse treatment last year, but that only 33,983 received some kind of assistance, and in 2006 Las Vegas ranked seventh in the nation in the number of people arrested while on methamphetamines.

"We commend Judge Kerns and Las Vegas' HOPE Court for their tireless efforts in working towards the rehabilitation of addicted individuals who commit crimes," said Terren Peizer, Chairman and CEO of Hythiam. "It is an honor to be a part of the HOPE Court's mission to provide alternatives to incarceration for offenders in their drug court population. The Court has been widely recognized for its success to date, and we look forward to being a part of their growing success story."

About the PROMETA® Treatment Program

Hythiam's PROMETA® Treatment Program is designed for use by healthcare providers seeking to treat individuals diagnosed with dependencies to alcohol, cocaine or methamphetamine, as well as combinations of these drugs. The PROMETA® Treatment Program includes nutritional supplements, FDA-approved oral and IV medications used off-label and separately administered in a unique dosing algorithm, as well as psychosocial or other recovery-oriented therapy chosen by the patient and his or her treatment provider. As a result, PROMETA® represents an innovative approach to managing alcohol, cocaine, or methamphetamine dependence that is designed to address physiological, nutritional, and psychosocial aspects of the disease, and is thereby intended to offer patients an opportunity to achieve sustained recovery. To learn more, please visit www.prometainfo.com.

About Hythiam, Inc.

Hythiam, Inc. provides behavioral health management services to health plans, employers, criminal justice, and government agencies through a network of licensed and company managed providers. The company approaches the management of behavioral health disorders with a focus on using the latest medical and health technology towards improved outcomes and out-patient treatment. Hythiam also researches, develops, licenses and commercializes innovative and proprietary physiological, nutritional, and behavioral treatment programs. Hythiam offers disease management for substance dependence built around its proprietary PROMETA® Treatment Program for alcoholism and dependence to stimulants. The PROMETA® Treatment Program, which integrates behavioral, nutritional, and medical components, is available through both licensed treatment providers and company managed PROMETA® Centers. Hythiam does not practice medicine or manufacture, distribute, or sell any medications and has no relationship with any manufacturers or distributors of medications used in the PROMETA® Treatment Program. For further information, please visit www.hythiam.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Except for statements of historical fact, the matters discussed in this press release are forward looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements reflect numerous assumptions and involve a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the company's control that may cause actual results to differ materially from stated expectations. These risk factors include, among others, limited operating history and lack of statistically significant formal research studies, the risk that treatment programs might not be effective, difficulty in developing, exploiting and protecting proprietary technologies, intense competition and substantial regulation in the healthcare industry; and additional risks factors as discussed in the reports filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on its website at http://www.sec.gov.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category