Straight Inc - Legacy of Abuse Continues

For 17 years Melvin Sembler and his wife Betty operated one of the most destructive and world’s largest chain of juvenile rehabilitation programs, Straight, Inc. Today we hear from clients of the former Straight Inc and what really happened in the drug rehabilitation program for teens. As many as 50,000 kids were in the Straight program, Straight, Inc. is the biggest violator of human rights and civil liberties that this country has ever seen. In 1985 the Semblers, fearing civil suits by the victims of the abuse and fearing possible criminal prosecution, changed the mission of Straight, Inc. from "treatment" to "education" and its name from "Straight, Inc." to "Straight Foundation, Inc." In 1995, two years after Straight had to be closed, Betty Sembler changed the name of the educational foundation again to the Drug Free America Foundation (DFAF). So today Straight has morphed into an organization called Drug Free America Foundation, which specializes in helping small businesses set up Drug Free Workplaces, and in promoting national and international drug policy.