California Drug Diversion ProgramThe

LA Times had an article discussing problems with the California Nursing Board's drug diversion program.

Currier, a participant in the state's confidential recovery program for impaired nurses, had failed repeatedly -- and spectacularly -- at rehabilitation, the records show.

Over 4 1/2 years, she'd been discovered high in her car at a Hollywood hospital, stolen anesthetics at a San Gabriel Valley hospital, been convicted of burglary after taking more drugs from the same hospital and flunked a drug test.

Yet it wasn't until Currier shot up at the drug-testing facility in September 2006 that she was kicked out of the recovery program. Though her evaluators labeled her a "public risk," the California Board of Registered Nursing didn't impose discipline until 1 1/2 years later, leaving her free her to work without restriction in the interim, the documents show.


As the state begins overhauling regulation of California's 350,000 registered nurses, one of the board's most touted programs stands out as seriously troubled: drug diversion.

See:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la...4.story?page=1