LA philanthropist seeking to find cure for addiction

LOS ANGELES - If there is a cure for addiction… a Los Angeles philanthropist, Nancy Davis, is hoping to find it. She co-founded the non-profit Cure Addiction Now (CAN) with her late son Jason Davis.

CAN is funding nine different studies and held a forum of experts in September from the likes of UCLA and Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Also on the panel was the creator of Narcan and long-time activist on the issue, Jodi Barber of Orange County. Barber lost her 19-year-old son to an addiction of painkillers after a sports injury.

"We're funding research that is not funded anywhere else," said board member Kurt Rasmussen. One of the nine studies CAN is funding is research on Ibogaine with Deborah Mash, CEO of DemeRx.

To know the power of CAN is to know Nancy Davis. She founded Race to Erase MS when she was diagnosed with multiples sclerosis. 

"I was diagnosed 30 years ago with MS and told I would never walk again," Davis stated.  She applauds the fact that there are 22 drugs now on the market.

Her mission now is in the name of her late son. With fentanyl overdoses taking center stage and making news, it is Davis' twin daughters, Mariella and Isabella Rickel, who are stepping up with a Narcan education campaign on its use and urging kids to not be afraid to call 911 when someone is overdosing.