Does stuff like this give anyone else out there a case of the Huhs, or is it just me?

A drug cocktail that backers say is the first effective treatment for methamphetamine and cocaine addiction is dividing substance abuse experts into two hostile camps — those who say they have seen it work wonders and those who say it has been rushed to market without any scientific testing.

The strident debate over the “Prometa protocol,” manufactured by the Hythiam Corp., is complicated by the checkered Wall Street career of the company’s CEO, Terren Peizer, who previously championed an anti-AIDS drug that has yet to make it to market.

Hythiam, which is based in Los Angeles, launched Prometa in 2003 in private clinics, where meth and cocaine addicts, as well as alcohol abusers, pay $12,000 to $15,000 for a one-month outpatient treatment.  Now the company is aggressively pushing Prometa for the mass market, and asking governments and insurers to foot the bill. […]