A $2-million state appropriation to pay for a controversial addiction treatment regimen is now being reexamined by Texas officials, the Dallas Morning News reported Jan. 20.

Texas Rep. Jerry Madden, chairman of the House Corrections Committee, requested the funding for Prometa, a cocktail of drugs touted as a treatment for methamphetamine and other drug addiction but not backed by much research or Food and Drug Administration approval.

"I don't think anybody should be spending any amount of money on something that hasn't been clinically researched to be safe and effective," said Dallas Criminal District Judge John Creuzot, who said that Hythiam, Inc., the company marketing Prometa, is "in the business of making money, and they did a great sales job on some well-intended legislators in Texas."

Madden, a supporter of addiction treatment in prisons, said that it was worth the money to fund a pilot program to determine whether Prometa is as effective as some claim. A pilot program in Collin County funded by Hythiam reported that 16 of 20 felony meth offenders were clean after 90 days, which Collin County District Judge Charles Sandoval called "spectacular."

"For some of these addicts, it was the first time they'd been right in 20 years," Sandoval said. "I'm a judge. I'm skeptical on a lot of things. But I watched this work."

Harold Urschel, M.D., founder of the Urschel Recovery Science Institute in Dallas, also endorsed Prometa's use among meth addicts. "Use went down. Cravings dropped dramatically," he said. The Prometa treatment costs up to $15,000 per patient, however, and critics say that Urschel is biased because he has profited from the sale of the treatment regimen.

"There's been a lot of marketing hype before the evidence exists," said Kathryn Cunningham, director of the University of Texas Medical Branch's Center for Addiction Research. "This is not something I'd personally want to spend my taxpayer money on ... I know a lot of scientists in this area, and we're all singing the same tune. This is misguided."