At this point, the family survived on welfare payments with Hughes' mother suffering from "emotional problems." She battled obesity and tension via amphetamines and sleeping pills. In the ninth grade Hughes dropped out of school and began using drugs himself. "I was a little delinquent," he says. "I got in trouble with the law." At 16, he was sent to CEDU High School, a private residential school for troubled youngsters in Running Springs, CA whose origins were associated with Synanon, a group founded in 1958 and later described as a cult. Part of Hughes' CEDU rehab required him to raise money by selling raffle tickets. Hughes became the school's best salesman. "The approval there was based on how much funds you raised," Hughes told People magazine in 1985. "There was a lot of pressure, and I wanted to be the best right away."