Addiction Treatment Industry Worried Lax Ethics Could Spell Its Doom

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The premier organization representing drug treatment providers met in South Florida recently for its annual convention. The theme of this year’s gathering — “The Addiction Industry at a Crossroads” — only hinted at the internal tensions and external pressures reshaping a troubled industry.
The opioid epidemic, which just added Prince to its list of victims, has shoved the addiction industry into the spotlight, and many here at the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers conference worried aloud how the industry’s lax ethical standards would look in the new glare.
Nor is greater attention to ethics the providers’ only threat. Drug treatment is now big business, and a wave of consolidation is sweeping the industry, as …