The horrific murders of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele, by their son are made more tragic because they were preventable.
Nick Reiner, Rob’s son, began his downward spiral to murder at age 15. His eighteen attempts at failed rehabilitation are typical of the 1.36 million patients going through Rehabilitation Programs to address their Substance Use Disorder (SUD).
Drug Rehabilitation is now a $35 billion global industry. Americans spent $9.44 billion on patient rehabilitation treatments in 2024. U.S. Rehab spending is expected to rise to $16.22 billion by 2033. Another $1.5 billion is allocated in Federal grants for Opioid Response Programs.
Approximately 60 percent of those who complete rehab programs relapse into addiction. Only 43 percent of those who enter rehab programs complete their treatment.
These multiple levels of failure have only motivated government and private foundations to spend more money pursuing the same approaches. How many more lives will be lost before there is meaningful change?
It does not have to be this way.
On November 4, 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) issued their updated Opioid Prescription Guidelines. Their goal was to limit the exposure to Opioids when health professionals manage pain.
They unanimously recommend the use of Red-Light treatments as the preferred nonopioid therapy for chronic pain. They also declared that Red-Light therapies were as effective as opioids for common types of acute pain.
Red-Light, known in the scientific literature as Photobiomodulation (PBM), has treated over 100 million patients in clinical settings without any documented side effects.
PBM Therapy’s efficacy is supported by 2,466 Randomized Clinical Trials (RCTs) and 11,178 research studies, many published in leading scientific journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the Lancet.
There are 505 active PBM clinical trials registered with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
PBM has been proven to improve the success rate of SUD rehabilitation. PBM eases the physical and psychological withdrawals from opioids and other drugs. It dramatically reduces relapse.
Major studies have documented PBM’s role as an effective adjunct to traditional drug rehabilitation.
In
2020, Dr. Fredric Schiffer, Harvard Medical School, proved PBM reduced Opioid
cravings by 51% versus 15.8% using traditional rehabilitation.
In 2024, Dr. Jennifer Flora, Shepherd University, validated Schiffer’s findings. She further documented a significant reduction in depression symptoms. Dr. Flora’s depression findings validated earlier studies conducted at Harvard Medical School by Dr. Michael Hamblin and Dr. Paolo Cassano.
What is Red-Light/Photobiomodulation?
Photobiomodulation (PBM) is a noninvasive, FDA cleared, medical technology that successfully manages pain and treats a variety of medical conditions.
The human body has 32 trillion cells. Each cell has thousands of Mitochondria that process nutrients and light into the energy required to power the cell. When we are injured, ill, or aging, this process breaks down, harming the cell and the body. Exposing all or part of the human body to intense Red and Near-Infrared light restores the Mitochondria’s ability to generate cellular energy.
PBM is a natural process aiding a natural process.
Why is Red-Light/Photobiomodulation not generally available to those in need?
Bureaucratic inertia is preventing this proven treatment from being known and adopted:
- The Centers of Disease Control (CDC) has never added its PBM therapy recommendations to their updated Opioid Guidelines media pages or educational material.
CDC Clinical Practice Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Pain — United States, 2022 | MMWR
- The
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has never
added PBM treatments to its rehabilitation recommendations.
- The
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has never published an updated and accurate
description of PBM for expedited device clearance, even though the final rule process
was completed in March 2023.
Photobiomodulation (PBM) Devices - Premarket Notification [510(k)] Submissions | FDA
- States dispersing Opioid Settlement money continue to purchase Naloxone EpiPens and fund failed rehab programs.
The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) movement, President Trump, and HHS Secretary Kennedy, should take immediate action to implement these life-saving approaches that have already gone through extensive scientific and regulatory vetting.
No one suffering from Substance Use Disorder should ever have to go through Nick Reiner’s ordeal. No family member should be murdered because the rehab system refuses to pursue successful treatment options.
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