Addiction care center is expanding

The Hoag campus in Newport Beach breaks ground on a new recovery facility.

- By Matt SzaBo

JAMES CARBONE DEVON MARTIN, right, receives a hug at last week's groundbreaking for the facility, set to open in 2027.

There is still a stigma around addiction, even nearly 30 years after former National Institute on Drug Abuse director Alan Leshner argued that addiction is a brain disease.

Dr. Steven Ey, chief of service at Hoag Addiction Treatment Centers, sees it all the time.

“The idea of it being a moral failing is still a problem,” Ey said. “It’s not as if someone says, ‘Hey, you know what? I just want to go to treatment one day.’ They typically will try to get sober, try it on their own and with willpower. That’s the whole moral concept — ‘I can handle this if I just behave correctly.”

A soon-to-be-built addiction treatment center on the Hoag campus in Newport Beach is intended to offer more support for those seeking help with addiction and substance use and their families, according to the hospital's officials.

Hoag broke ground Wednesday on the CareMar Recovery Center, a two-story facility that is expected to open in 2027.