March 6, 2002

by Toby Moore

Rapid Detox has become the celebrity health craze.

The system is replacing the traditional cold turkey and 12 steps in Hollywood. Doctors at the Waismann Institute in Beverly Hills give patients an anesthetic before draining their bowels to flush out any drugs and toxins. They claim "film and music celebrities" among those they treat.

"Sixty per cent of rehab patients will walk out early because they can't go through the suffering of withdrawal," said spokeswoman Clare W. Kavin.

"By the time our patients wake up, they're tired, but the detox is over."

Leif Garrett, a . teen pop idol from the Seventies now on the comeback trail at 40, has admitted checking into the clinic for heroin addiction. "That was the end of feeling like I needed the drugs," he said , claiming to have been off hard drugs for more than two years.