Narconon, The Shame of Oklahoma, con’t.

Scientology by another name.

Narconon, a front group and cash cow for the cult of Scientology is facing more questions.

“Scientology Drug Program Narconon’s Licensing “Extremely Vulnerable” After Oklahoma Deaths, Says Insider.” Story by Tony Ortega, Village Voice Blog, 8/11/12.

Scientology is facing crises on several fronts: flagging membership, internal schisms, relentless Internet exposure, and whole new levels of public consciousness and mocking because of a celebrity divorce and an upcoming movie with Oscar buzz.

But perhaps the most surprising component of the church’s recent rise in negative attention seemed to come out of nowhere, and may turn out to be one of the biggest challenges it’s facing.

Scientology’s drug treatment program, Narconon, is being consumed in a conflagration of its own making.

As with just about every other Scientology controversy, Narconon’s problems are not new. Throughout its history, it’s faced protests, as well as debunking by experts.

But this time, its problems seem of another magnitude. There are not only four deaths at the flagship Oklahoma facility under investigation — three just since October — but Narconon is also mired in litigation in Michigan and Georgia, it was chased out of Quebec, and has also apparently given up on the UK.

“All these Narconon centers are run on the same principles. They use deception to get people in, they make false claims about their effectiveness, and the person sending patients there is actually a salesman working on commission,” says Carnegie Mellon professor Dave Touretzky, who has been studying Narconon for years and maintains an extensive online archive of information about the drug treatment program’s many controversies.

Now, with unprecedented attention drawn to it, Naconon’s vulnerability comes into sharp focus: If Scientology itself often gets a pass because it calls itself a church, Narconon cannot claim that privilege. If Scientology is made up of people who have voluntarily joined to explore their past lives, Narconon patients — and the parents or court officers who send them there — often have no idea of the program’s connection to the controversial church. Although it is endorsed by celebrities, Narconon’s less glamorous reality puts very vulnerable people in risky settings. And, increasingly, public officials are beginning to question how such an unusual program could be licensed to do business in their jurisdictions.

With the media’s interest in all things Scientology heightened, Narconon could be in serious trouble.

For the full story go here: http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/2012/08/scientology_narconon_extremely_vulnerable.php

As with all of Scientology there is precious little Science involved in Narconon.  It claims an absurdly high “cure” rate which is backed up by a couple studies provided by another Scientology front group.  This particular lie, made to encourage the unwary to use this bogus service, is on a par with the Scientology lie that they have 8 million members.

Lies are the hallmark of Scientology; and as a branch of Scientology the promotional literature and their web sites of Narconon is saturated with false claims.

A good chunk of the Narconon program relies on Hubbard’s “Purification Rundown.”  This involves spending long amount of time in a sauna to sweat out body toxins and large doses of various vitamins.  What this amounts to is non-scientific trash as related to addiction problems.  Worse yet the vitamins taken in large amounts can be toxic which can be a big issue with anyone with liver disease.

Nutritional science was in its infancy when Hubbard dreamed up this treatment.  But of course Scientologists are forever frozen in time unable to change or modify any of Hubbard’s techniques.  So the fruits of new knowledge are wasted on them.  Below former addict and Narconon staff member David Love talks about the Purification Rundown.

Here is a link that takes a close look at Narconon.  http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/

Can we prove that Scientology and Narconon are connected?  Read this and decide for yourself.