Narconon: the fraud continues

Last week, my local newspaper published some Narconon propaganda by a John Duff, described as president emeritus of Narconon International. Duff mentioned that Narconon was based on "breakthroughs" in drug rehabilitation made by L. Ron Hubbard. The following letter to the editor is my reply:

Begin

Readers should know that Narconon, described by John Duff in last week's paper as a drug rehabilitation program, has also been described by others as a recruitment center for the cult of Scientology. Some of the books used by Narconon were written by Scientology's founder and are the same books used by the so-called Church of Scientology in its "religious" teachings.

L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology whose books are used by Narconon, is famous for telling his friends that if you want to make a million dollars you should start your own religion.

Hubbard started Dianetics in the 1950's, which claimed that a person's troubles in this life were all based on bad experiences in past lives. Later, Hubbard founded Scientology, a science fiction cult. Scientology claims that 75 million years ago a galactic tyrant named Xenu rounded up the excess population of his empire, stuffed the people inside volcanoes on Earth, and blew them up with H Bombs. The bodies of the dead space aliens became invisible and they are now sticking to us and causing all of our problems, from baldness to pneumonia.

Narconon's program of drug rehabilitation has been described as including a schedule of jogging and saunas designed to "sweat out" drugs from an addict's body. Hubbard taught that drugs stay in the addict's fatty tissues and unless they're removed they can come back out and make the victim intoxicated again, even years after he stopped taking drugs. Massive doses of vitamins are administered to Narconon patients, including mega doses of niacin. Hubbard taught that niacin can counteract the effects of nuclear radiation as well as drug addiction (Hubbard also once said that nicotine was a cure for radiation poisoning).

Before anyone contacts Narconon or any other self proclaimed drug treatment programs he or she should check them out with local law enforcement, local and state health departments, and his or her family physician and minister. Above all, beware of claims of "breakthroughs" that are based on the teachings of a pulp science fiction writer whose goal in life was to get rich off your money.

End
Goodboy

"The court record is replete with evidence that Scientology is nothing in reality but a vast enterprise to extract the maximum amount of money from its adepts by pseudo scientific theories... and to exercise a kind of blackmail against persons who do not wish to continue with their sect...The organization clearly is schizophrenic and paranoid, and this bizarre combination seems to be a reflection of its founder, L.Ron Hubbard."

Judge Paul Breckenridge, Los Angeles Superior Court