WEBVTT - The Rehab Empire Built On Cakes 0:00:00.920 --> 0:00:04.000 This is Latino USA, the radio journal of News and 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:09.280 Kurturre Latino uscix let Latino USA. I'm Maria Inojosa. We 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:13.040 bring you stories that are underreported but that mattered to you, 0:00:13.160 --> 0:00:15.040 overlooked by the wrest of the media. And while the 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:17.360 country is struggling to deal with these, we listen to 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.960 the stories of black and Latino Studio United Latino Front, 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.520 a cultural renaissance organizing at the forefront of the movement. 0:00:26.239 --> 0:00:27.480 I'm Maria Inojosa. 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:28.840 Nose bayan. 0:00:30.840 --> 0:00:35.240 Or La Latino Usa. Listener, Here's an episode the Los Archivos. 0:00:35.640 --> 0:00:39.680 Before he kicked the habit, Robert Bedda shot heroin for 0:00:39.720 --> 0:00:41.159 almost fifty years. 0:00:41.440 --> 0:00:43.519 Drugs always been a problem for me. And when you 0:00:43.520 --> 0:00:46.080 shoot drugs, you use drugs, and you have drugs, you 0:00:46.080 --> 0:00:48.400 don't have no problems a drug, use it with drugs 0:00:48.440 --> 0:00:50.800 as a happy person. It's when you don't have it 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:52.440 that the problem again, you know. 0:00:53.120 --> 0:00:56.920 And Robert's problem with drugs led to legal trouble. He 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.840 was in and out of jail for most of his life, 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:04.640 starting when he was just eleven years old. Today, Robert 0:01:04.760 --> 0:01:08.520 lives back in his hometown of Fajarre, Puerto Rico, he's 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:10.600 a wiry sixty nine years old. 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.679 I don't look it and I don't act it, but 0:01:13.840 --> 0:01:14.759 I am. 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:15.119 A little under. 0:01:15.160 --> 0:01:17.720 Ten years ago, Robert was picked up by the police 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:21.560 and convicted for possession of stolen articles. The court in 0:01:21.600 --> 0:01:24.800 Puerto Rico gave him an option go to prison for 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:32.759 three years or spend eighteen months in a place called ogargrea. 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:40.520 Oga means home in Spanish, and Grea could mean create 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:43.960 or to believe, but it's also an acronym. It stands 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:49.520 for Comnidad barralare lugascion readictos, or in English, community for 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:55.880 the re Education of Attics. It's a drug treatment program 0:01:55.960 --> 0:02:00.000 and their representatives are all over the island of Puerto Rico, 0:02:00.680 --> 0:02:02.320 even in the courthouse. 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:04.080 I didn't know they were coming. I didn't ask for 0:02:04.160 --> 0:02:06.080 them to come. They were at the court room when 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.440 I got there, and they asked me would I like 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:09.720 to go to go to jail. 0:02:10.240 --> 0:02:13.400 Robert chose to go to Grea. He thought, why not, 0:02:13.800 --> 0:02:19.440 I'll try this out. During his stay at Grea, Robert 0:02:19.480 --> 0:02:22.120 lived with about twenty other guys in a barrack style 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:26.880 concrete dorm building, one of several on the property. Everyone 0:02:26.960 --> 0:02:29.320 in the compound was on the same schedule. 0:02:29.480 --> 0:02:31.200 By five o'clock, you got to be I get in 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:33.000 a line by blah blah blah. You gotta say it 0:02:33.400 --> 0:02:36.440 a positive statement for the morning. Then you wait a while. 0:02:36.560 --> 0:02:39.839 They called breakfast, You eat breakfast, and then the day starts. 0:02:40.240 --> 0:02:41.800 You go on to therapy. 0:02:42.919 --> 0:02:46.160 But therapy in this case is not what you normally 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:49.720 think about when you think of therapy. This one involves 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:53.400 putting on a bright yellow T shirt, going door to 0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:57.640 door and selling baked goods. Oh god, Grea I calls 0:02:57.760 --> 0:03:01.440 this sales and representation, therapy. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:05.720 Sales and representation. That's one of the therapy sessions that they got. 0:03:05.800 --> 0:03:07.720 I'm laughing because it's comical. 0:03:08.160 --> 0:03:11.800 And if you've spent significant time in Puerto Rico, chances 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:21.840 are you've experienced their famous sales pitch yo. After detox. 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.359 As soon as they can walk right, Grea residents are 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:29.320 sent into the streets to sell things, mostly cakes and 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:33.800 custards produced by an industrial sized bakery owned by Grea itself. 0:03:34.720 --> 0:03:38.760 They're outside in the hot sun all day. They're often 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.480 given no food or water, and they can't return until 0:03:42.520 --> 0:03:46.760 they've sold everything. Once they're back, they fork over all 0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:51.880 the cash they made to Grea. The theory is that soliciting, 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.600 sometimes literally standing in busy intersections selling cookies and cakes, 0:03:57.120 --> 0:04:01.200 will help addicts to stop doing drugs. It also just 0:04:01.200 --> 0:04:04.520 so happens to bring in a lot of money for Korea. 0:04:06.960 --> 0:04:09.480 Robert thought he knew what o God Krea had in 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:11.880 store for him. He went in hoping it would do 0:04:11.920 --> 0:04:14.480 him some good and maybe even help him get off 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:18.640 of heroin. But quickly he found out that wasn't the case. 0:04:18.839 --> 0:04:21.560 Great exist for a long time, so I figured it 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:25.520 would be more professional. I figure it would be more helpful, 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:27.880 but it wasn't. Nobody there but the knowledge you know 0:04:28.080 --> 0:04:28.520 to help you. 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.880 From Futuro Media and PRX, It's Latino Usa. I'm Marien 0:04:34.000 --> 0:04:38.560 no Hoosa today the story of the controversial drug treatment 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:43.039 program that dominates in Puerto Rico and some of the 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:51.120 strange things that are reported to happen inside. You've probably 0:04:51.120 --> 0:04:54.120 heard about the surge and opioid and heroin use that's 0:04:54.160 --> 0:04:57.640 been ravaging many regions in the United States, but what 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:00.680 you might not know is that the crisis is worse 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:03.559 in Puerto Rico, and it has been for over half 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:07.640 a century. There are as many as sixty thousand people 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:11.520 who inject drugs in Puerto Rico. That's about two percent 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.239 of the island's population. That means that people in Puerto Rico, 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:18.840 give or take, are about eight times more likely to 0:05:18.880 --> 0:05:25.479 inject drugs than the US population as a whole. The 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:28.960 largest drug treatment provider on the island is ogri Grea. 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.479 They run about sixty centers in Puerto Rico, not to 0:05:32.520 --> 0:05:35.400 mention many others on the US mainland and elsewhere in 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:40.200 Latin America. In addition to their own fundraising efforts, Ogdgrea 0:05:40.279 --> 0:05:43.400 receives millions of dollars in funding from both local and 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:49.000 federal governments. Despite being the biggest and best funded rehab 0:05:49.080 --> 0:05:52.280 on the island, ogri Grea and their treatment methods have 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:57.840 been controversial, some would even say abusive. I'm going to 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.440 hand it off now to reporter What Cotler, who's been 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:04.120 working on this story for over a year. We're going 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:07.839 to learn about OGD kream, its background, and the larger 0:06:07.880 --> 0:06:11.720 than life man who founded it. Oh and by the way, 0:06:11.839 --> 0:06:15.120 there's some adult language in this story, which we've believed. 0:06:22.000 --> 0:06:25.440 Pretty much everyone in Puerto Rico either knows someone or 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:29.360 knows of someone who has been through Ogdkrea for over 0:06:29.440 --> 0:06:32.320 fifty years. CREA has been the rehab center on the 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.120 island and heroin has been the drug of choice for 0:06:35.160 --> 0:06:38.760 Puerto Ricans. OGA Crea was founded by a man named 0:06:38.839 --> 0:06:42.760 Juan Jose Garcia Rios, better known by his nickname che Juan. 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.320 He eventually became such an important figure in Puerto Rico 0:06:46.520 --> 0:06:48.880 that he had a rendition of his life story released 0:06:48.920 --> 0:06:51.200 on vinyl. The record is in the style of an 0:06:51.200 --> 0:06:58.000 old radio drama. The record chronicles chehuan struggle with drugs 0:06:58.040 --> 0:07:00.200 from the first time he smoked marijuana when he was ten. 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:02.880 Yeah, OK, what I say. 0:07:04.480 --> 0:07:06.800 According to the record, he developed some bad habits when 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.520 he visited New York City at age fifteen. 0:07:09.080 --> 0:07:11.640 Come on, honey, let's damn. 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:18.320 At sixteen, he started using heroin. Eventually, Chihuan's arrested and 0:07:18.400 --> 0:07:26.360 sentenced to three to five years in prison. While serving 0:07:26.360 --> 0:07:29.080 his sentence, he worked in the prison library and became 0:07:29.120 --> 0:07:32.080 an avid reader. He developed the belief that Puerto Rican 0:07:32.120 --> 0:07:35.120 migration to New York City and the resulting economic stress, 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:37.920 culture shock, and discrimination were at the root of many 0:07:37.960 --> 0:07:41.160 Puerto Rican's addictions. He also noticed that many people from 0:07:41.160 --> 0:07:43.840 the island were returning from the Vietnam War with substance 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:49.480 abuse problems. Chihuan founded Roger Crea when he was released 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:52.320 from prison in nineteen sixty eight. His aim was to 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:56.440 create a re educational program, a therapeutic community where people 0:07:56.480 --> 0:08:00.000 could live together and start over without drugs. He designed 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:02.400 and Crea not only as a rehab center, but as 0:08:02.440 --> 0:08:05.240 a long term housing facility for people with nowhere else 0:08:05.240 --> 0:08:08.800 to go. It will become the treatment facility for everyone 0:08:09.080 --> 0:08:13.040 from national celebrities to the average citizen, and in fact, 0:08:13.280 --> 0:08:18.840 Puerto Rican celebrities did in the Berea, especially musicians. CREA 0:08:18.880 --> 0:08:21.120 even had its own in house salsa orchestra, made up 0:08:21.120 --> 0:08:23.840 of musicians who went through the program, like percussionists Cheo 0:08:23.920 --> 0:08:28.600 Feliciano and legendary vocalist Frankie Hernandez. The group even released 0:08:28.600 --> 0:08:42.959 a salsa album on Fania Records called Impactos Crea. When 0:08:43.000 --> 0:08:45.760 CREA began, there were virtually no other drug treatment centers 0:08:45.760 --> 0:08:48.880 on the island. By nineteen seventy three, it expanded from 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.240 a handful of residents living in a group home to 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:54.840 a federation of over thirty facilities. Before long, che Juan 0:08:54.920 --> 0:08:57.600 was looked at as a hero, he had revolutionized drug 0:08:57.640 --> 0:09:01.240 treatment in Puerto Rico. The so called therapeutic community treatment 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:03.400 model was popular in the United States at the time. 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.240 Heroin auticts, alcoholics, and potsmokers would all live together to 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.160 help each other stay out of trouble, taking turns leading 0:09:10.200 --> 0:09:13.199 group therapy sessions. It was designed to be a democratic, 0:09:13.240 --> 0:09:17.040 participant led environment where people could learn job skills, good habits, 0:09:17.080 --> 0:09:22.880 and eventually re enter society without their addictions. Based on 0:09:22.960 --> 0:09:26.440 his own experiences and readings, Chihuan added his own twists 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:30.600 that made his organization unique. He was brilliant at raising money. 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.240 Not only did he convince the government to give Krea 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:37.520 enormous financial support, he also made fundraising part of the 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:42.080 treatment itself. That's the sales and representation therapy we mentioned earlier. 0:09:43.360 --> 0:09:46.400 Chihuan folded religion into his unique treatment model as well, 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.120 because of the role faith played in his own recovery. 0:09:49.200 --> 0:09:52.640 Chihuan sought to bring participants closer to God, the final 0:09:52.679 --> 0:09:56.960 step in overcoming addiction. But before being built up to God, well, 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.960 attics had to be broken down. They had to acknowledge 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:02.720 their problem. Ji Juan had a plan for that too, 0:10:03.320 --> 0:10:07.720 Confrontational therapy also known as attack therapy, it's the process 0:10:07.760 --> 0:10:10.640 of tearing down an individual's ego in order to re 0:10:10.800 --> 0:10:14.720 educate them, usually by forcing them to confront quote unquote 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.880 unpleasant realities about themselves. It was a popular tactic in 0:10:18.880 --> 0:10:22.200 addiction programs on the Mainland since the fifties, especially in 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:26.000 boot camp programs for troubled teens. According to their website, 0:10:26.160 --> 0:10:29.400 confrontational therapy is a central part of the Kraa experience, 0:10:30.000 --> 0:10:33.160 and according to Robert Pereeda, the former Kraa participant we 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:35.640 spoke to earlier, some days they'd make you do it 0:10:35.720 --> 0:10:38.240 around the clock, that overnight confrontation. 0:10:38.360 --> 0:10:42.280 Twenty four hours a day, all night, without sleep, without nothing, 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:45.240 without food. That's real, it's real, messed up. 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:46.000 That was the thing. 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.400 Yeah, that's yeah, twenty four hours do you confront people. 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:50.080 It's all night. 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:52.480 They sit you down in a chair and take turns 0:10:52.520 --> 0:10:55.520 insulting you till you're broken. That was the worst part 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:55.959 for Robert. 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:58.760 Everybody called you an animal, dog, that you ain't no good, 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.000 that you yeah, don't mean, all kind of crazy. And 0:11:02.040 --> 0:11:04.560 then somebody come fu and they take you out and 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:06.560 put another person in there. You know, and you don't 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:09.040 have no sleep your tied. You know, they could say anything. 0:11:14.080 --> 0:11:16.480 The idea is that once you've been broken down, you'll 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:19.200 realize that you need to change. Only then can you 0:11:19.240 --> 0:11:22.520 be built back up, free from drugs and closer to Jesus. 0:11:23.160 --> 0:11:26.319 And if you fall out of line, well there are consequences. 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:31.319 I spoke to drug users in two towns, Fajardo and Caguas. 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:33.880 Almost all of them had been through KREA and had 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.160 stories of strange and sometimes abusive things that they went through. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.920 One guy told me that as punishment, they would shave 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:43.520 your eyebrows or shave the shape of a cross into 0:11:43.559 --> 0:11:43.880 your hair. 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.080 They treat you like wars and a dog. You don't 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:50.240 do that to the dog, but they do that to us. 0:11:51.840 --> 0:11:54.560 Another mentioned that there were repercussions for everything. 0:11:56.720 --> 0:11:59.720 They caught you smoking and smoking. 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:02.760 The guy translating here is named Panama. He showed me 0:12:02.800 --> 0:12:03.400 around Cogua. 0:12:03.520 --> 0:12:04.080 They would do a. 0:12:05.559 --> 0:12:11.040 Chain like a chain of cugartte butts black. If you 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:15.320 caught your masturbating, you paint your hand your hand black 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.719 and put a bell on your on your wrist. And 0:12:18.960 --> 0:12:22.000 when there were visiting days, you would have to go 0:12:22.240 --> 0:12:25.680 table by table to everybody who came to the visit 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:27.720 and explain to them why you. 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:29.319 To everybody else. 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.520 The guys I'm talking with tell me about Vans that. 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:36.400 They got him recruiting addicts in the street. 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:38.960 They drive around town looking for down and out people 0:12:39.040 --> 0:12:40.560 to pick up and then roll out a center. 0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:41.760 That's the boss right there. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.199 In the very moment they're telling me about this, a 0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:46.679 blue and yellow passenger band with Claire's logo printed on 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:54.559 it drives right by us right there. Got them, but 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.199 it's everywhere, like at the traffic light. They guys selling 0:12:57.240 --> 0:12:58.160 the plastic bags. 0:12:58.240 --> 0:12:58.440 Yeah. 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.920 As as a reminder, this isn't some small, weird rehab 0:13:03.240 --> 0:13:07.040 It's the biggest treatment network in Puerto Rico. Despite the 0:13:07.120 --> 0:13:10.960 sometimes strange things that happened inside CREA's doors, the organization 0:13:11.120 --> 0:13:13.760 was hailed as a success in Puerto Rico and beyond. 0:13:14.520 --> 0:13:17.560 They expanded to the Dominican Republic in nineteen seventy five. 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.640 By nineteen eighty one, CREA had branched out to the mainland, 0:13:22.080 --> 0:13:26.480 opening a facility in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, where, according to CREA's website, 0:13:26.679 --> 0:13:28.600 chi Juan was even given the key to the city. 0:13:29.520 --> 0:13:32.959 By the eighties, CREA was also in Costa Rica, Nicaragua 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:39.320 and Colombia, among other countries in Latin America. In the nineties. 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:42.640 Back in Puerto Rico, CREA continued to thrive. The Puerto 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:45.719 Rican government was privatizing medical care throughout the island and 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:49.160 as a result pretty much dissolved its own drug treatment programs. 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:52.920 After that, there were even fewer alternatives to CREA, and 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:56.400 taxpayer money both in Puerto Rico and the mainland flowed 0:13:56.440 --> 0:14:00.520 into the organization. Jehuan's hometown of Trujillo all don't even 0:14:00.559 --> 0:14:08.120 dedicated a street in his honor. CREA was here to stay, 0:14:08.480 --> 0:14:11.199 selling it to make goods and saving souls around the hemisphere. 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:23.000 Coming up on Latino, USA. 0:14:24.320 --> 0:14:28.680 Was the main actor of violating human rights of drug 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.720 users in Puerto Rico and Dominican rebubble. 0:14:31.360 --> 0:15:23.000 That's coming up. Stay with us, Yes, hey, we're back. 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.840 And when we left off, we were telling this story 0:15:25.880 --> 0:15:28.480 of the meteoric rise of a drug treatment program in 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:32.800 Puerto Rico Calledrea and the story of its founder, Chijuan 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:38.520 Gria was growing and growing and expanding overseas. Money was 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:42.120 coming in from donations and government grants, but also from 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:47.320 great residents who were out selling faked goods, remember sales 0:15:47.440 --> 0:15:51.560 and representation. At the same time, concern was growing among 0:15:51.640 --> 0:15:55.080 people in the drug treatment world about just what was 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:59.240 happening behind Grea's doors and about the potential for abuse 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.880 in their confrontational therapy model. Joaquin Coutler picks up the 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:04.440 story now. 0:16:05.200 --> 0:16:08.920 By the nineteen nineties, allegations of physical and sexual abuse 0:16:09.000 --> 0:16:12.960 in CREA centers started piling up, particularly in the mainland 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:18.240 US branches. In Pennsylvania, nineteen former participants filed charges cousin 0:16:18.320 --> 0:16:22.280 CREA's top administrator on the mainland to resign. CREA had 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.040 long been denying that abuse was happening. In nineteen ninety four, 0:16:26.360 --> 0:16:31.080 responding to the Pennsylvania allegations, Chejuan said, quote, the character 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:35.080 of an addict is that they are liars manipulators. CREA 0:16:35.120 --> 0:16:43.040 would eventually lose their charter in the state. In Puerto Rico, Ogar, 0:16:43.120 --> 0:16:46.200 CREA was also starting to face scrutiny. Certain people in 0:16:46.240 --> 0:16:48.520 the drug treatment world were questioning the value of what 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:49.200 CREA does. 0:16:49.640 --> 0:16:52.280 All what they do is work, pray in the morning 0:16:52.440 --> 0:16:56.400 and do more work. And I have groups of of 0:16:56.680 --> 0:16:57.600 assaulting each other. 0:16:58.200 --> 0:17:01.640 Doctor Salvador Santiago Negron is a former director of AMSCA, 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:06.440 Puerto Rico's Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Association. He's 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.600 a public health advocate and researches the effects of stigma 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.280 and confrontational therapy on people who use drugs. 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.600 There is a new data that confrontational therapy is not 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:18.959 good for patience because that we mean there self imish 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:22.959 is not helping them at all. We have a lot 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.600 of discussion with this program because they were insisting on 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:28.400 using that technique, but it's not premn at all. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.399 So to summarize that, was the former head of the 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:37.720 government agency in Puerto Rico that deals in addiction, and 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.720 he just said that based on updated science, he believes CREA, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:51.919 the island's largest treatment organization, isn't actually treating anybody. Despite 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.720 being the biggest rehab in Puerto Rico, CREA had never 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.120 been fully evaluated by an outside entity. Its outcomes were 0:17:58.400 --> 0:18:01.879 at best a mystery. But in the year two thousand 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:06.240 that was set to change. The Puerto Rican government was 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:09.119 going to start regulating drug treatment on the island. A 0:18:09.200 --> 0:18:11.760 law was set to pass requiring all rehabs in Puerto 0:18:11.840 --> 0:18:15.480 Rico to have their methods and results evaluated. The idea 0:18:15.640 --> 0:18:19.480 was to hold treatment centers accountable and establish some transparency 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:23.560 about where government money was being spent. CREA didn't seem 0:18:23.600 --> 0:18:26.480 to like that. They lobbied to have the bill changed 0:18:26.600 --> 0:18:30.720 with the help of powerful evangelical leaders. Santiago na Grone said, 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:33.120 lawmakers changed their minds literally overnight. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:37.160 They agree with all student the day eleven o'clog night, 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:41.160 the CREA and all the groups met with very powerful 0:18:41.200 --> 0:18:44.840 politicians and they introduced that boss they are in their law. 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:48.000 During a late night handshake deal, the Speaker of the 0:18:48.080 --> 0:18:51.640 House introduced a clause that essentially undermined the very existence 0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.800 of the law. This clause protects any organizations providing spiritual 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:59.640 or pastoral guidance from any type of government regulation, including 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:04.639 a valueuation. The bill passed with the clause. Since CREA 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:07.719 is a private, faith based program, they would be legally 0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:12.040 exempt from government evaluation. This meant that CREA's questionable therapy 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:18.560 techniques could continue unmonitored. The legislator who introduced the clause 0:19:18.720 --> 0:19:21.200 was the speaker of Puerto Rico's House of Representatives. 0:19:21.320 --> 0:19:24.359 It is so miss La al Daroldo, ex President de 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:24.840 La Camera. 0:19:24.960 --> 0:19:27.200 In two thousand and one, he resigned from his position 0:19:27.280 --> 0:19:30.160 in Puerto Rico's Lower House after being accused of extortion, 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:34.560 money laundering, and witness tampering unrelated to Crea. He was 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.679 later convicted of corruption and sexual abuse of a minor. 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:41.320 But while his personal legacy is tainted, Crea is still 0:19:41.359 --> 0:19:47.280 protected from government oversight. But there is one academic report 0:19:47.320 --> 0:19:51.399 about Ugacrea's treatment model. It's not an official evaluation of treatment, 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:54.120 but the authors found, to put it plainly. 0:19:54.560 --> 0:19:59.399 Crea was the main actor of violating human rights of 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.800 drug user in Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic. 0:20:02.200 --> 0:20:05.200 That's the voice of Rafael Toua, a co author of 0:20:05.240 --> 0:20:05.720 the report. 0:20:06.119 --> 0:20:09.119 Human rights abuses were committed under the auspices. So basically 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:13.159 two or three things, but two mainly one. Confrontational therapy 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:19.359 for drug users only makes things worse. How retraumatizing an 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:23.240 individual that already has been traumatized, as if pushing you 0:20:23.359 --> 0:20:27.639 to that edge and breaking you down emotionally would make 0:20:27.680 --> 0:20:30.119 you understand and you to stop using drugs. That's why 0:20:30.200 --> 0:20:31.960 we talk about a revolving door. If you keep re 0:20:32.119 --> 0:20:35.280 traumatizing somebody, they keep coming at you, and you keep charging, 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:37.480 you're making money. And then the second thing that we 0:20:37.560 --> 0:20:40.160 founded the report. That was horrible is that not only 0:20:40.240 --> 0:20:42.800 do you re traumatize them, then you tell them that 0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:46.000 for their own treatment to get better, you have to 0:20:46.119 --> 0:20:50.119 sell my good and work for me for free, almost 0:20:50.160 --> 0:20:51.720 the definition of slavery. 0:21:00.280 --> 0:21:04.479 Raphael and Intercambios for libel, essentially trying to get them 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:05.520 to retract their report. 0:21:05.920 --> 0:21:09.800 We were in a court case because CREA really didn't 0:21:09.960 --> 0:21:13.000 like the report that exposed this. They said, no, we 0:21:13.119 --> 0:21:15.040 have all the right to do what we do. We're 0:21:15.040 --> 0:21:18.560 going to launch a lawsuit against you. Let's call a slapsuit. 0:21:18.920 --> 0:21:22.480 The slapsuit went on for almost three years, but unfortunately 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:25.680 for CREA, in May of twenty eighteen, they lost. 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:31.800 They lost, like really bad. What happened is they looked 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:36.439 like the shady organization that they seem to be. 0:21:42.880 --> 0:21:43.400 One moment. 0:21:43.560 --> 0:21:43.879 Please. 0:21:44.240 --> 0:21:46.959 In August of twenty seventeen, when I first started reporting 0:21:47.040 --> 0:21:48.920 on CREA, I reached out to them to hear their 0:21:49.000 --> 0:21:56.720 side in Corpore. Unfortunately, connecting with them wasn't easy. Press night, 0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.120 I sent a bunch of emails and called over twenty 0:21:59.200 --> 0:22:01.920 times trying to get hold of their director at Dorfriguetoa 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:05.879 or anyone else that would talk to me is not 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.720 available at the moment. It was amazed extensions, voicemail boxes 0:22:09.760 --> 0:22:12.560 and dead ends. There is not enough message todays to 0:22:12.640 --> 0:22:15.000 make a recording exit in the systems. 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:15.560 Goodbye. 0:22:18.800 --> 0:22:21.199 Eventually, I showed up in person at their headquarters outside 0:22:21.240 --> 0:22:25.239 San Juan in January. Even in person, I still got 0:22:25.320 --> 0:22:28.359 the run around if I give you your email, en, 0:22:28.640 --> 0:22:30.520 but I also got a new email address and a 0:22:30.600 --> 0:22:34.600 cell number to have it. Eventually, after weeks of phone tag, 0:22:34.840 --> 0:22:37.280 someone claiming to be the director of treatment emailed me 0:22:37.400 --> 0:22:40.359 back in May of twenty eighteen, declining to comment on 0:22:40.440 --> 0:22:50.120 their history, their styles of therapy, the lawsuit, or anything else. Fentanyl, 0:22:50.280 --> 0:22:53.399 the synthetic opioid that's responsible for the surge of overdoses 0:22:53.400 --> 0:22:55.960 in the United States in recent years, has been ubiquitous 0:22:56.000 --> 0:22:59.960 in Puerto Rico's heroin supply since Hurricane Maria. Hard numbers 0:23:00.119 --> 0:23:02.920 on overdoses in Puerto Rico are hard to determine, but 0:23:03.040 --> 0:23:05.639 we do know that statistics around AIDS and hepatitis on 0:23:05.680 --> 0:23:09.800 the island, both diseases associated with intravenous drug use, are staggering. 0:23:09.960 --> 0:23:11.920 Puerto Rico is an injection island. 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:14.880 Half of the people that are infected with HIV AIDS 0:23:15.520 --> 0:23:18.840 are infected because of their history with injection drug use. 0:23:19.000 --> 0:23:21.000 It's just a monumental problem. 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:25.000 That's Camilla Helpia Costa. She's a researcher on intervenous drug 0:23:25.080 --> 0:23:26.200 use among Puerto Ricans. 0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:30.920 Puerto Rico is the fourth MSA metropolitan statistical area in 0:23:31.040 --> 0:23:35.679 the entire United States, the fourth in hib eight's deaths. 0:23:36.320 --> 0:23:39.320 Ninety pc of our injectors in the island ninety am, 0:23:39.359 --> 0:23:42.760 I do you understand? Nine zero? Virtually all of them 0:23:42.840 --> 0:23:44.240 have hypathetic Okay. 0:23:45.359 --> 0:23:47.960 On top of this, what's known as the treatment gap 0:23:48.040 --> 0:23:51.680 in Puerto Rico is staggering ninety two percent. That means 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:53.800 only eight percent of people on the island in need 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:58.080 of substance abuse treatment are getting it. Because of their size, 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:02.240 their influence, and their political connections, Ogricrea is still Puerto 0:24:02.320 --> 0:24:06.840 Rico's main residential treatment center. Ogorcrea receives about eight million 0:24:06.880 --> 0:24:10.320 dollars a year from government grants and programs. In other words, 0:24:10.600 --> 0:24:15.000 eight million dollars of local and federal taxpayer money. Tax 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:17.240 audits also show that they own more than twenty five 0:24:17.359 --> 0:24:22.679 million dollars in assets, land, vehicles, equipment, et cetera. As 0:24:22.760 --> 0:24:25.880 of twenty fifteen, they operated sixty facilities in Puerto Rico, 0:24:26.240 --> 0:24:29.880 with fifteen hundred participants at any given time. The government 0:24:30.040 --> 0:24:35.919 currently runs just four facilities. CREA is what's known as 0:24:35.920 --> 0:24:39.880 an abstinence only program. It's an old fashioned philosophy, often 0:24:39.880 --> 0:24:42.800 accompanied by a religious component or the surrender to a 0:24:42.880 --> 0:24:47.000 higher power. This kind of zero tolerance does work for 0:24:47.080 --> 0:24:50.040 some people, and many former addicts do credit CREA with 0:24:50.119 --> 0:24:53.960 getting them off drugs, but critics like Camilla say that 0:24:54.160 --> 0:24:57.680 just say no doesn't necessarily work for everyone. They say 0:24:57.720 --> 0:25:01.320 abstinence only doesn't address the underlying of drug use or 0:25:01.400 --> 0:25:04.639 the danger of deadly diseases from needle sharing. It can 0:25:04.720 --> 0:25:13.240 actually make things worse. Camilla runs a much smaller organization 0:25:13.359 --> 0:25:16.480