Editing Narconon (section)

===John Cunningham, Watsonville, California, United States (2015)===
In July 2015, John Cunningham, a 58-year-old [[Boeing]] employee addicted to [[benzodiazepines]], was sent by his sister to Redwood Cliffs, a Narconon facility in [[Watsonville, California]]. The staff at Redwood Cliffs sent Cunningham to be detoxed to Bright Futures Recovery, which removed Cunningham from medications he was taking for [[clinical depression|depression]]. Cunningham was sent to the "local ER three times in just five days for withdrawal symptoms". On 22 August 2015, he was left alone in his room long enough for him to "hang himself by a belt in his bedroom closet". Cunningham's sister did not know that Narconon was a Scientology outfit until after her brother's death.<ref name="Bunker May 2019"/>

Represented by attorney H. Gavin Long, Cunningham's family sued Redwood Cliffs and Bright Futures Recovery for $1 million each. The rehabilitation centers countered with an offer of "$100,000 and $350,000, respectively". The family refused and took the case to a jury in [[Santa Cruz, California|Santa Cruz]]. After a twelve-day trial where Narconon tried to argue that they had not referred Cunningham to Bright Futures Recovery, the jury awarded the family $11 million. According to journalist [[Tony Ortega]], it was very rare for the case to go to a jury, and since this court case, "Scientology cut ties with its Northern California Narconon network, and the Redwood Cliffs facility has closed. But Narconon is still on the hook for its share of the verdict".<ref name="Bunker May 2019">{{cite web |last1=Ortega |first1=Tony |author-link=Tony Ortega|title=JURY AWARDS $11 MILLION OVER DEATH OF SCIENTOLOGY REHAB PATIENT |url=https://tonyortega.org/2019/05/07/jury-awards-11-million-over-death-of-scientology-rehab-patient/ |website=The Underground Bunker |access-date=7 May 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190507235758/https://tonyortega.org/2019/05/07/jury-awards-11-million-over-death-of-scientology-rehab-patient/ |archive-date=7 May 2019}}</ref>