Editing Narconon (section)

==History==

===Origins===

[[File:L. Ron Hubbard in 1950.jpg|thumbnail|L. Ron Hubbard, founder of [[Scientology]], upon whose ideology the Narconon program is based.]]

Narconon was established 19 February 1966 as a [[drug rehabilitation]] program based on the book ''[[Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought]]'' by [[L. Ron Hubbard]], the creator of [[Scientology]], and was first delivered to drug abusers in the [[List of Arizona state prisons|Arizona prison system]]. The name "Narconon" originally referred not to an organization but to the program.

Narconon's creator was William C. Benitez, a former [[Arizona]] prison inmate who had served time for narcotics offenses.<ref>Narconon [http://www.narconon.org/about_benitez.htm The Origins of the Narconon Program]. Retrieved 4 June 2006.</ref> His work was supported by Hubbard, and in 1970 Hubbard sponsored the incorporation of Narconon as an organization.<ref name="About Hubbard">Narconon [http://www.narconon.org/about_lronhubbard.htm "L. Ron Hubbard and the Narconon program"]. Retrieved 4 June 2006.</ref> The organization was co-founded by Benitez and two Scientologists, [[Henning Heldt]] and Arthur Maren.

Even before Narconon became established, Scientology and [[Dianetics]] were promoted as providing a cure for [[drug addiction]]. In 1970, the Rev. John W. Elliot, senior minister of the [[Church of Scientology]] and chairman of its Drug Abuse Prevention team, announced that "Dianetic Counseling" had "completely cured 30 out of 30 people" who came to Scientology for help. Rev. Elliott also reported that Dianetics could cure [[hay fever]], [[asthma]] and [[arthritis]].<ref name="drolet1">{{cite news| title=Dianetics Guarantees Victory Over Drugs | date=22 January 1970 | last=Drolet | first=Eve | newspaper=Honolulu Advertiser | page=A-2 | quote=The Reverend John W. Elliott, senior minister of the Church of Scientology and chairman of its Drug Abuse Prevention team, announces that a technique called Dianetic Counselling has completely cured 30 out of 30 persons who came to his group for help. "Dianetic Counselling", says Elliot, "is a new technology which has resolved not only the craving for drugs, but also the after-effects. This will revolutionize the whole area of drug abuse, and the threat it poses to the mental and physical health of the State". ... Elliot feels the vast majority of people have some form of psychosomatic illness. Hay fever, asthma and arthritis are listed in this category by Elliot who says that Dianetics resolves all such problems}}</ref>

In the early days of Narconon, no distinction was made between Scientology's "religious" and "secular" branches; Narconon was considered by Scientologists to be an example of Scientology in action. "Narconon, with the Scientology program, is another example of the workability of Dianetics and Scientology", said an adherent in 1970. "The program has been expanded and is used in all Scientology churches and missions".<ref name="mercer_island">{{cite news |title=Scientology And It's [sic] Applications |newspaper=Mercer Island Reporter |date=8 April 1971 |quote=Scientology claims to have the only workable technology to find the source of a problem and eradicate it. ... While everyone is looking for a solution to drug abuse, Scientologists have one and use it.}}</ref>

The Narconon website reports that the keynote of Narconon is that the “...individual is responsible for his own condition and that anyone can improve his condition if he is given a workable way to do so... man is basically good and it is pain, suffering, and loss that lead him astray". It positions the program as an approach to rehabilitation without recourse to alternative drugs. This early program did not, however, deal directly with [[drug withdrawal|withdrawal]] symptoms. In 1973, the Narconon program adopted procedures to include drug-free withdrawal.<ref name="About Hubbard" />

===21st century===
A number of Scientologist celebrities have publicly attested that Narconon was helpful in their own lives. Musician [[Nicky Hopkins]] and actress [[Kirstie Alley]] have credited Narconon for their recovery from addiction to drugs and alcohol.<ref>{{cite news | first1=Joel | last1=Sappell |author2= Welkos, Robert W. | url=https://www.latimes.com/local/la-scientology062590b-story.html |title=The Courting of Celebrities| work=[[Los Angeles Times]] | page=A18:5 | date=25 June 1990 | access-date=6 June 2006 }} Additional convenience link at [https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Library/Shelf/la90/la90-2c.html CMU.edu].</ref> Alley subsequently became a public spokesperson for Narconon. Elsewhere, the [[New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project]] has used Hubbard's sauna detoxification regimen in an effort to improve the health of rescue workers exposed to toxic substances from [[9/11]], although the results are disputed.<ref name="Hubbard's Drug Rehabilitation Program">{{cite web|url=http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/infomark.do?&contentSet=IAC-Documents&type=retrieve&tabID=T002&prodId=EAIM&docId=A157081483&source=gale&srcprod=EAIM&userGroupName=usocal_main&version=1.0|title=Hubbard's Drug Rehabilitation Program|last=Klotter|first=Julie|year=2007|publisher=Townsend Letter: The Examiner of Alternative Medicine|access-date=27 June 2011}}</ref><ref name="gilmore2004">{{cite news|title=Scientology 'Detox' Furor: clinic draws client raves and researcher jeers|last=Gilmore|first=Heather|date=15 August 2004 |work=New York Post}}</ref><ref name="crouch">{{cite journal |journal=Chemosphere|volume=69 |issue=8 |date=October 2007| pages=1330–1332| title=Comment on "Persistent organic pollutants in 9/11 world trade center rescue workers: Reduction following detoxification" by James Dahlgren, Marie Cecchini, Harpreet Takhar, and Olaf Paepke [Chemosphere 69/8 (2007) 1320–1325] |doi=10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.05.098 |first1=Edmund A. C. |last1=Crouch |author2=Laura C. Green |pmid=17692360|bibcode=2007Chmsp..69.1330C }}</ref> Toxicologist Dr Ronald E. Gots described the Narconon / [[Purification Rundown]] program in a 1987 report on its use by [[California]] firefighters:

{{Blockquote|text=The treatment in California preyed upon the fears of concerned workers, but served no rational medical function. {{omission}} Moreover, the program itself, developed not by physicians or scientists, but by the founder of the Church of Scientology, has no recognized value in the established medical and scientific community. It is [[quackery]].<ref name="LA_Times_1"/>}}

In 2004 and 2005, ''[[World Institute of Scientology Enterprises|WISE]] at Work'' magazine and ''International Scientology News'' each published articles clarifying the relationship between Narconon and Scientology; each placed Narconon in Scientology's "Division 6B", with responsibility for introducing the public to Scientology services.<ref name="ISN1">{{cite news|title=A Turning Point in our History<!--|access-date=10 September 2012-->|newspaper=International Scientology News|date=27 May 2004|quote=The answer is to make every one of our orgs a Central Organisation, a headquarters responsible for every sector of Scientology activity across its entire geographic zone—all of it! ... International Management bodies exist today for each sector of activity; including ... Social Betterment Activities which handle drug rehabilitation [Narconon] ... And each one now emanates from the Central Org into the environment.}}</ref><ref name="wise_at_work1">{{cite news|title=Creating a New Civilisation: YOUR ROLE<!--|access-date=10 September 2012-->|newspaper=wise at work|year=2005|page=14|quote=The Public Divisions ... are responsible to emanate {{sic}} every type of LRH technology ... "Since each Church will be the Central Organization for their area", Mr. Miscavige explained, "there are displays encompassing every sector – with descriptions understandable by Scientologists and non- Scientologists alike. They both enlighten and generate new activities: from salvaging lives from illiteracy, addiction [Narconon] and crime; to programs for opening new groups to handle community ruins {{sic}}. It also includes everything to establish new missions, groups and VM chapters". With such displays, the answer to questions on Scientology, LRH Admin Tech or LRH himself becomes just four words: Go to the org.}}</ref>

By the end of 2005, according to the [[International Association of Scientologists]] (IAS), Narconon was operating 183 rehabilitation centers around the world. New centers opened that year included in [[Hastings]], [[East Sussex]], [[England]] (now closed), and in [[Battle Creek]], [[Michigan]].<ref>"IAS 21st Anniversary Event, ''Impact'' 112, 2006</ref> Narconon President Clark Carr asserted that drug prevention lectures "have been given to over 2 million children and adults over several decades... and are currently being delivered across the United States, all [[New England]] States, [[Washington D.C.]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], [[Florida]], [[Oklahoma]] and surrounding states, Michigan and [[Illinois]], [[Texas]], [[New Mexico]], [[Idaho]], California, [[Nevada]], [[Hawaii]] and possibly others" in response to an inquiry from ''The Humanist.''<ref name="humanist">{{cite journal|title=Is Scientology in Your Schools? |journal=The Humanist |first=Robin |last=Jacobs |url=http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/JacobsSeptOct04.pdf |date=October 2004 |access-date=15 January 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080229075922/http://www.thehumanist.org/humanist/articles/JacobsSeptOct04.pdf |archive-date=29 February 2008 }}</ref>

On 17 July 2006, the Narconon center in [[Trois-Rivières]], [[Quebec]], [[Canada]], started a website at Narcodex.ca.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.narcodex.ca/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080116122554/http://www.narcodex.ca/|title=Main Page|archive-date=16 January 2008|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://whois.domaintools.com/narcodex.ca |title=Whois: NarCodex.ca |publisher=DomainTools |access-date=16 August 2010}}</ref> Narcodex was a [[wiki]] purported to contain drug information. The domain name of Narcodex.ca was owned by [[Association for Better Living and Education|ABLE Canada]], a Scientology subsidiary. The funding for the website came entirely from Narconon Trois-Rivières, which also controlled the content on the site.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.narcodex.ca/Wiki/Narcodex:About |title=What is Narcodex |work=Narcodex Wiki |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080122100311/http://narcodex.ca/Wiki/Narcodex%3AAbout |archive-date=22 January 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The center was closed by the local health authorities in 2012.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/scientologist-run-rehab-centre-ordered-closed-in-quebec-1.1226881|title=Scientologist-run rehab centre ordered closed in Quebec|newspaper=CBC News|access-date=13 February 2017|language=en}}</ref>

In July 2013, Narconon proposed to acquire the 150 acre [[Hockley, Ontario|Hockley]], [[Ontario]], estate of [[Donald Blenkarn]], who had died the previous year. Narconon planned to convert the estate into a rehabilitation center for alcohol and other drug use, but drew widespread opposition from residents who were opposed to the presence of a rehab center, and to the presence of Narconon and Scientology specifically.<ref name="hockleyproposal">{{cite news | url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/09/02/narconon_meets_fierce_opposition_in_hockley_valley.html | title=Narconon meets fierce opposition in Hockley Valley | date=2 September 2013 | access-date=19 March 2014 | last=Mendleson | first=Rachel | newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]}}</ref> The Blenkarn family ultimately chose to sell to an unidentified person within the community for below the asking price, and rejected a counter-offer from Narconon.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2013/09/09/narconon_loses_bid_to_buy_property_in_hockley_village.html|title=Narconon loses bid to buy property in Hockley Village|last=Mendleson|first=Rachel|newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]|date=9 September 2013|access-date=9 September 2013}}</ref>

In January 2014, Narconon instituted a Hubbard-based detoxification program in [[Annapolis]], [[Maryland]], to treat veterans suffering from war-related conditions. The treatments were funded by the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] through a September 2010 grant for $633,677 given to [[University of Albany]], where David O. Carpenter serves as the director of the school's Institute for Health and the Environment and is the program's chief investigator. As of December 2014, seven [[Gulf War]] veterans completed the program. It was administered on a seven-day-per-week schedule, with the regimen being completed in 33 days. The program's purpose was to discover whether Hubbard's program has a scientific basis for therapy and whether it was effective in reducing symptoms and improving the functional status of veterans whose physical pain and anxiety improved upon completion of the program. Carpenter affirmed that the program was effective in his own treatment.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.capitalgazette.com/news/ph-ac-cn-detox-1214-20141214-story.html |title=Feds fund Scientology-backed detox program for vets in Annapolis |work=The Capital Gazette |date=December 14, 2014 |access-date=12 July 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=Gulf War Illness Research Program |journal=CDMRP Department of Defense |url=http://cdmrp.army.mil/gwirp/pbks/gwirppbk2012.pdf |access-date=12 July 2017 |archive-date=December 22, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222145805/http://cdmrp.army.mil/gwirp/pbks/gwirppbk2012.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="army">{{cite web|url=http://cdmrp.army.mil/search.aspx?LOG_NO=GW093066|website=cdmrp.army.mil|title=Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs (CDMRP) Search Awards|access-date=11 November 2018|archive-date=December 31, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151231051127/http://cdmrp.army.mil/search.aspx?LOG_NO=GW093066|url-status=dead}}</ref>