Nick Reiner Tragedy Exposes Addiction Treatment Crisis: Expert on Why Rehab Keeps Failing
True Crime Today | Daily True Crime News & Interviews
Tony Brueski
4.2 • 612 Ratings
🗓️ 29 January 2026
⏱️ 19 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The deaths of Rob and Michele Reiner — allegedly at the hands of their son Nick — have sparked an uncomfortable national conversation. The Reiner family had every resource available. Money. Access. The ability to get the best treatment in the country. And here we are. So the question that keeps coming up: did the system fail them? Or is addiction simply this hard to treat?
On True Crime Today, psychotherapist Shavaun Scott examines the reality behind America's addiction treatment industry. The relapse rates are staggering — 40-60% within 30 days, over 90% for opioids in the first year. The 28-day model that dominates treatment wasn't designed around brain science — it was designed around what insurance would cover back in the 1970s. Five decades later, we're still using it. And people are still dying.
Shavaun breaks down what evidence-based treatment actually looks like versus what most people get. We examine the co-occurring disorder problem — addiction almost never exists alone, but most facilities aren't equipped to treat the underlying trauma and mental illness. The workforce crisis. The patients who learn to perform recovery without actually recovering. Is this an industry designed to fail? Or is it facing a disease that defeats every system built to treat it? Part one of a critical examination.
#NickReiner #RobReiner #MicheleReiner #AddictionCrisis #RehabFailed #ShavaunScott #TreatmentIndustry #MentalHealth #SubstanceAbuse #TrueCrimeToday
Join Our SubStack For AD-FREE ADVANCE EPISODES & EXTRAS!: https://hiddenkillers.substack.com/
Want to comment and watch this podcast as a video? Check out our YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/@hiddenkillerspod
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hiddenkillerspod/
Tik-Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@hiddenkillerspod
X Twitter https://x.com/tonybpod
Listen Ad-Free On Apple Podcasts Here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/true-crime-today-premium-plus-ad-free-advance-episode/id1705422872
This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is Hidden Killers Live with Tony Bruske, Stacey Cole, and Todd Michaels. |
| 0:07.9 | Let's move over to another case. |
| 0:11.0 | Nick Reiner, Rob Reiner, Michelle Reiner, Nick obviously allegedly killed both his parents, |
| 0:16.3 | legendary director Rob Reiner and his wife, Michelle. |
| 0:19.4 | And while the crime itself obviously horrific, |
| 0:22.3 | when emerged in the aftermath focuses and forces us to confront something America has been avoiding |
| 0:28.0 | for decades, the addiction treatment system that was supposed to help this family that didn't really |
| 0:33.7 | work out all that well, or was it the system or was it Nick that didn't work? That's the question we're asking. |
| 0:39.5 | The question nobody seems to want to answer, is it the system's fault, or was it just what |
| 0:45.0 | happens when you're dealing with addiction and mental illness? |
| 0:47.7 | Javon Scott is with a psychotherapist and author to help us dig into all of this. |
| 0:54.4 | And I think it's a fair question to ask. |
| 0:56.6 | We've been talking about Nick. |
| 0:58.7 | We've been talking about his gazillion chances. |
| 1:01.9 | His poor decision-making every single time a new life was put in front of him while he was |
| 1:08.8 | clean and the chances he chose not to take. |
| 1:12.2 | The participation in his recovery that he himself chose not to go down. |
| 1:17.8 | That certainly is a part of this. |
| 1:19.8 | But I want to talk more about the system here too, because we're looking at an industry with |
| 1:23.2 | relapse rates between 40 and 60 percent within 30 days of discharge. |
| 1:27.8 | And for opioids, some studies point to over 90% in the first year. |
| 1:32.8 | Not in any way, shape, or form am I knocking clinicians or anybody in this industry |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Tony Brueski, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Tony Brueski and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.