Narconon

Not to be confused with Narcotics Anonymous, Nar-Anon, or Narcan.

Narconon
Formation1966
FounderWilliam Benitez, L. Ron Hubbard
TypeScientology front group
HeadquartersHollywood, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
President
Clark Carr
Websitenarconon.org

Narconon International (commonly known as Narconon) is a Scientology organization which promotes the theories of founder L. Ron Hubbard regarding substance abuse treatment and addiction. Its parent company is the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), which is owned and controlled by the Church of Scientology.[6] Headquartered in Hollywood, California, United States,[7] Narconon operates several dozen residential centers worldwide, chiefly in the U.S. and western Europe. The organization was formed in 1966 by Scientologist William Benitez with Hubbard's help, and was incorporated in 1970.[8]

The Scientology organization and Narconon state that Narconon is a secular program independent of Hubbard's writings about Scientology,[9] and that it provides legitimate drug education and rehabilitation.[10][11] The organization has been described by many government reports and former patients as a Scientology front group.[21]

Hubbard's writings, which underlie the program, assert that drugs and their metabolites are stored in the body's fatty tissue, causing the addict's cravings when partially released later on, and can be flushed out through a regimen known as Purification Rundown, which involves exercise, sauna and intake of high doses of vitamins.[22] This hypothesis is contradicted by experimental evidence, and is not medically accepted.[28] There are no independently recognized studies that confirm the efficacy of the Narconon program.[26]

The program has garnered considerable controversy as a result of its origins in Scientology[12][29][30] and its methods. Its drug rehabilitation treatment has been described as "medically unsafe",[31] "quackery"[17][32] and "medical fraud",[33] while academic and medical experts have dismissed its educational program as containing "factual errors in basic concepts such as physical and mental effects, addiction and even spelling".[34] Narconon's facilities have been the location of several deaths, some of which have been linked to a lack of trained medical personnel on site.

  1. ^ a b California Healthy Kids Resource Center; Deborah Wood, PhD (January 2005). Narconon Drug Abuse Prevention Program Evaluation (Report). California, US: California Department of Education / California Department of Public Health. Archived from the original on December 22, 2019. Retrieved September 7, 2012. Some drug-related information presented in the NDAP [Narconon] and supplementary resources — although aligned with the Narconon drug rehabilitation methodology – does not reflect accurate, widely accepted medical and scientific evidence. Some information is misleading because it is overstated or a distinction between drug use and abuse is lacking. ... This information reflects hypothesized processes of drug metabolism, bioavailability, and psychoactive impact, and is the premise for the Narconon detoxification regimen. This theoretical information does not reflect current evidence that is widely accepted and recognized as medically and scientifically accurate. ... Inaccuracies and misleading inferences were not limited to a single material, but were evident in NDAP elementary, middle and high school presentation outlines and delivery scripts and in the supplementary drug prevention materials available to schools ... Narconon program materials were independently reviewed by fourteen reviewers and three CHKRC staff. Reviewers included five doctors (M.D.s), four board certified in pediatrics and adolescent medicine and/or with specific expertise in addiction and substance abuse; two doctors (PhDs) with expertise in child and adolescent development; one doctor (PhD) with expertise in prevention research and program evaluation of substance abuse programs. Reviewers also included nine school health education specialists (with teaching credentials and/or masters level health or education degrees) including elementary, middle, and high school teachers, university faculty, and school district/county office of education tobacco, alcohol, and other drug abuse prevention education coordinators.
  2. ^ Phillip Charles Lucas; Thomas Robbins, eds. (2004). New Religious Movements in the Twenty-First Century: Legal, Political, and Social Challenges in Global Perspective. Routledge. p. 376. ISBN 9781135889012. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  3. ^ "Narconon of Oklahoma, Inc Credentials". Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  4. ^ "10 News Investigators: Is the Narconon drug treatment program a Scientology front?". Archived from the original on March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  5. ^ Duff, John S.; Clark Carr (September 21, 1996). "Healing drug and alcohol addiction in the family". New York Amsterdam News. p. 24.
  6. ^ [1][2][3][4][5]
  7. ^ "Narconon International Contact Info". Narconon. Retrieved December 25, 2010., "Narconon International 4652 Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood, CA 90027."
  8. ^ a b c Reitman, Janet (2011). Inside Scientology: The Story of America's Most Secretive Religion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 257. ISBN 9780618883028. OL 24881847M. The use of social reform groups to spread L. Ron Hubbard's ideas had long been an integral part of Scientology, and was in fact one of the original objectives of the Guardian's Office. Since the late 1960s, the church has disseminated its philosophy through a number of organizations with hidden ties to Scientology, notably Narconon, a program that treats drug addiction and promotes Hubbard's holistic detoxification regimen, the Purification Rundown.
  9. ^ Rachel Mendleson (September 2, 2013). "Narconon meets fierce opposition in Hockley Valley". Toronto Star Newspapers. Retrieved March 20, 2014.
  10. ^ Bromley, David G. (1999). "Scientology, Church of". In Wade Clark Roof (ed.). Contemporary American Religion. Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan Reference USA. pp. 648–650.
  11. ^ "Narconon and Scientology". Retrieved October 24, 2013.
  12. ^ a b "Scientology Presents Narconon Program" (PDF). Westlake Post. April 30, 1970. "The conference presented current programs effective in alleviating drug problems. No program which employs drug or electric shock therapy was presented, as it has been discovered that groups which condone these techniques have only been pretending to be effective in drug rehabilitation", said Max Prudente, Scientology spokesman. ... "Based solely on the philosophy and tenets of Scientology, the applied religious philosophy, this program has achieved new and dramatic breakthroughs in the field of drug rehabilitation. Its nearly 85% success ratio has earned high praise from Governors, state and federal officials and correction authorities across the U.S., " Prudente said.
  13. ^ "Drugs charity is front for 'dangerous' organisation; Insight; Focus". Sunday Times. January 7, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2014. Narconon's international website claims: "The ministry of health in England (sic) has also directly funded Narconon residential rehabilitation." But the Department of Health denies any knowledge of this. ... Professor Stephen Kent, a Canadian academic who is an authority on Scientology, said: "The connection between Narconon and Scientology is solid. Of course, Scientology tries to get non-Scientologists involved in the programme, but the engine behind the programme is Scientology." ... The British government expressed concern about Narconon as long as eight years ago. A 1998 memo from the Home Office's drug strategy unit warned that the charity had its "roots in the Church of Scientology and (is) not in the mainstream of drug rehabilitation". Tower Hamlets council in east London advises its schools against using Narconon. DrugScope, one of the UK's main drug charities, said: "We feel that the quality of Narconon's information is not objective and non-judgmental. It does not have any credibility." Stephen Shaw, the prisons ombudsman, advised that inmates in British jails should not receive drug education from Narconon because it is so "closely associated with the Church of Scientology".
  14. ^ Malcolm Knox (September 2009). "Only Itself to Blame: The Church of Scientology". The Monthly. Retrieved September 14, 2012. Though a master in using the media and the courts to protect and project its image, Scientology has not always been so ostentatious in its proselytising. The church is an umbrella for subsidiary groups, such as ... Narconon... these groups have been criticised for appearing at Australian schools, community open days, and even having police distribute their material, without declaring their Scientology background. In January 2007, NSW police withdrew anti-drug pamphlets from stations in the Hunter region when it was discovered they were provided by Scientologists. ... Drug Free Ambassadors were handing out their pamphlets on the Gold Coast last 'schoolies' week'
  15. ^ Behar, Richard (May 6, 1991). "Scientology: The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power". Time. Archived from the original on February 20, 2007. Retrieved March 20, 2014. DRUG TREATMENT. Hubbard's purification treatments are the mainstay of Narconon, a Scientology-run chain of 33 alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers—some in prisons under the name "Criminon"—in 12 countries. Narconon, a classic vehicle for drawing addicts into the cult, now plans to open what it calls the world's largest treatment center, a 1,400-bed facility on an Indian reservation near Newkirk, Okla. (pop. 2,400). At a 1989 ceremony in Newkirk, the Association for Better Living and Education presented Narconon a check for $200,000 and a study praising its work. The association turned out to be part of Scientology itself. Today the town is battling to keep out the cult, which has fought back through such tactics as sending private detectives to snoop on the mayor and the local newspaper publisher.
  16. ^ "What Germans think about their Narconon". Der Spiegel. October 21, 1991. Retrieved March 20, 2014. The enterprising Scientology sect increases its profits thanks to the misery of addicts. The cover organization, Narconon, offers drug rehabilitation therapy that, in the opinion of experts and doctors in the field, is not only useless but also dangerous. ... Narconon closely follows the motto of the Scientology sect's founder, Lafayette Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986 at the age of 74. The discoverer of this pseudo-scientific hocus pocus, gave this advice: Make money, make more money, make other people make money. The disciples at Narconon follow this order. It is officially an independent subsidiary of Scientology. The Scientologists have developed countless supposedly humanitarian initiatives around their church. One example is the commission for the violations of psychiatry against human rights. Another is the organization for the furthering of religious tolerance and interhuman relations. In fact all these activities, like the drug rehabilitation program, are only to further the fame and increase the paying followers of the sect.
  17. ^ a b Robert W. Welkos; Joel Sappell (June 27, 1990). "Church Seeks Influence in Schools, Business, Science". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on October 23, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2012. A fourth article did not mention Hubbard by name, but reported favorably on Narconon, his drug and alcohol rehabilitation program, which is run by Scientologists.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference front_group1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference ISN1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Cite error: The named reference wise_at_work1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  21. ^ [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][8]
  22. ^ Tewksbury, Drew (2008). Scientology and the State: Narconon's Influence in the Prison System. ISBN 9780549609377. Retrieved December 10, 2013.
  23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Hubbard's Drug Rehabilitation Program was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  24. ^ Mieszkowski, Katharine (July 1, 2005). "Scientology's war on psychiatry". Salon.com. Retrieved September 7, 2012. Narconon's discredited teachings include the pronouncements that drugs burn up the body's vitamins and minerals, that these vitamin deficiencies cause pain (which prompts more drug use), that rapid vitamin and nutrient losses cause the "munchies" among pot smokers, and that drugs build up in fat tissue and spur flashbacks and a hunger for more drugs. "This theoretical information does not reflect current evidence that is widely accepted and recognized as medically and scientifically accurate," the study found. This February, the California State Superintendent recommended a ban on Narconon in California schools, and San Francisco and Los Angeles school districts have indeed outlawed Narconon.
  25. ^ Köhler, Nicholas (September 26, 2012). "Scientology's plan for Canada". Maclean's. Canada. Local health officials said Narconon Trois-Rivières offered clients little medical supervision and relied on Scientology-inspired treatments with no scientific basis
  26. ^ a b Berg, Rigmor C. (September 2008). A brief summary and evaluation of the evidence base for Narconon as drug prevention intervention. Oslo, Norway: Norwegian Centre for the Health Services. pp. 19–21. ISBN 978-82-8121-214-5. Archived from the original on April 5, 2012. Retrieved February 1, 2012.
  27. ^ Ernst, Edzard (August 17, 2012). "Scientology detox programmes: expensive and unproven". The Guardian. Retrieved November 3, 2013.
  28. ^ [8][1][23][24][25][26][27]
  29. ^ "The Four Basic Social Programs". The Hawaiian-American. December 17, 1975. Retrieved September 6, 2012. We talked with Rev. Diana Harris, Pastor of the Church of Scientology of Hawaii ... and she gave us a complete background on the church's social programs for those in need in our community. ... Another community program the church offers is Narconon—a program designed to assist persons to get off drugs and to keep off drugs. The program was utilized in Oahu State Prison for a while and enjoyed a very high rate of success, according to Pastor Harris. They [Scientology] have been asked to consider re-introducing the program to the prison at a later date.
  30. ^ "NARCONON to give awards". The Phoenix Gazette. May 19, 1970. Retrieved September 6, 2012. General information regarding the technology of Scientology, upon which NARCONON is based, can be secured from the Institute of Applied Philosophy
  31. ^ Farley, Robert (March 30, 2003). "Detox center seeks acceptance". St. Petersburg Times. pp. 1B, 5B – via Newspapers.com. When Narconon opened its Chilocco facility in 1991, the Oklahoma Board of Mental Health issued a blistering assessment in denying its application for certification. "There is no credible evidence establishing the effectiveness of the Narconon program to its patients," the board concluded. It attacked the program as medically unsafe; dismissed the sauna program as unproven; and criticized Narconon for inappropriately taking some patients off prescribed psychiatric medication. (courtesy link)
  32. ^ "30 arrested in Paris crackdown on Scientologists". Agence France-Presse. January 14, 1992. Retrieved March 20, 2014. About 30 Scientologists were arrested—and 19 of them later indicted—between May and October 1990 on charges of fraud, conspiracy to defraud and the illegal practice of medicine following the 1988 suicide of a church member in Lyon, eastern France. ... The sect has often found itself in trouble with officialdom the world over, accused of defrauding and brainwashing followers and, in France, of quackery at its illegal anti-drug clinics called "Narconon."
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference healing_or_stealing was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ Asimov, Nanette (October 2, 2004). "Church's drug program flunks S.F. test / Panel of experts finds Scientology's Narconon lectures outdated, inaccurate". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 7, 2012. The program, Narconon Drug Prevention & Education, "often exemplifies the outdated, non-evidence-based and sometimes factually inaccurate approach, which has not served students well for decades," concluded Steve Heilig, director of health and education for the San Francisco Medical Society. In his letter to Trish Bascom, director of health programs for the San Francisco Unified School District, Heilig said five independent experts in the field of drug abuse had helped him evaluate Narconon's curriculum. ... "One of our reviewers opined that 'this (curriculum) reads like a high school science paper pieced together from the Internet, and not very well at that,'" Heilig wrote Bascom. "Another wrote that 'my comments will be brief, as this proposal hardly merits detailed analysis.' Another stated, 'As a parent, I would not want my child to participate in this kind of 'education.'" Heilig's team evaluated Narconon against a recent study by Rodney Skager, a professor emeritus at UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies, describing what good anti-drug programs should offer students. "We concurred that ... the Narconon materials focus on some topics of lesser importance to the exclusion of best knowledge and practices," Heilig wrote, and that the curriculum contained "factual errors in basic concepts such as physical and mental effects, addiction and even spelling."