Beverly Hills Hotels Warned Not to Allow Treatment of Addicts

The Beverly Hills city attorney’s office issued a public safety notice Thursday alerting the Peninsula and other hotels in the city that it is illegal to permit doctors to detoxify drug addicts on their premises.

City officials also sent a letter to Dr. David A. Kipper, a Beverly Hills internist whose Lasky Drive office faces the Peninsula’s rear entrance, demanding that he immediately stop treating drug addicts at the hotel or any other unlicensed facility within the city limits.

The notice and letter follow an article in The Times last month about so-called hotel detoxes at the Peninsula and other luxury hotels--a lucrative practice for a small group of physicians who cater to the entertainment industry’s rich and celebrated. In the article, Kipper said he had detoxed about 20 heroin addicts at the Peninsula and conceded that his detox program--which included the use of a synthetic opiate buprenorphine--might not be “completely legal.”

Last week, the California Medical Board began investigating Kipper to determine whether he had violated state health and safety codes by detoxifying heroin addicts at the Peninsula.

State authorities say that conducting drug detoxification in an unlicensed facility such as a hotel violates the state and health safety codes. State regulations also prohibit the use of any opiate--including buprenorphine--to detoxify narcotic addicts.

The notice issued Thursday by Beverly Hills officials warned the Peninsula and other hotels that any establishment that allows doctors to conduct unlicensed detoxification programs on hotel grounds is in violation of the Beverly Hills city zoning code as well as state law. According to the prosecutor, hotels that permit drug detoxes to be conducted on the premises also violate county building, fire and tax codes.

The prosecutor said the city was deeply concerned about the alleged practices and demanded that hotels refrain from extending accommodations or services of any kind to physicians and other health care providers for boarding or care of their patients.--including persons being treated for substance abuse or those recovering from cosmetic or other surgery.

“You and your staff are in a position to ensure that hospital and convalescent operations do not occur in your hotel at any time,” said prosecutor Steven H. Rosenblit in the notice. “Aside from the unlawful nature of these activities, a substantial public hazard is created.”

In the notice, the prosecutor cautioned that hotels do not have approved procedures in place for the treatment and evacuation of patients undergoing drug detoxification in the event of an emergency. He said that unlicensed care of drug addicts compromised the safety of all patrons at a hotel.

In his letter to Kipper, the Beverly Hills city prosecutor demanded that the doctor provide written confirmation within five days that he has ceased to dispense medical or related health care services to any person in a hotel in the city.

The letter says Kipper must “refrain from providing services in the future to any person in any structure in the city which is not fully licensed and approved by all federal, state and county governmental agencies with jurisdiction over ‘detox treatments’ or other regulated activities.”

Kipper did not return calls seeking comment Thursday.

Last month, Kipper told The Times that he had detoxed at least 40 addicts at the Peninsula in the span of 24 months, weaning patients from a variety of addictive substances ranging from prescription painkillers to heroin.

Kipper contended that he had kept the Peninsula management apprised of his activities. But the hotel’s management and owners say Kipper never told them he was conducting medical procedures on the property. Three weeks ago, the Peninsula wrote a letter to Kipper informing him not to refer any further patients to the hotel.

Ali V. Kasikci, the general manager of the Peninsula, said Thursday that the hotel intends to put a stop to all doctor-referred patients.

Copies of the public safety notice were also sent to the Beverly Hills Hotel, the Four Seasons and the Hotel Nikko--other establishments allegedly used by doctors in recent years to detoxify drug addicts.