Earlier today Narconon Arrowhead and Narconon of Georgia published online PRWEB Newswire articles: “Worldwide Celebration of 47 Years Fighting Addiction.” Scientology brags of having ‘fifty rehab centers on six continents and another 250 drug education and First Step groups.’
Known for inflated and outright fraudulent claims of drug treatment success rates, what grabbed my attention in their PR articles today was their misleading statement:
"Forty-seven years of drug recovery service is just the beginning," said Clark Carr, president of Narconon International. Around the world, we've graduated more than 38,000 students who have learned how to enjoy life without drugs. Narconon Arrowhead has been a leader in both drug rehab and drug prevention and we are proud of their contributions to a saner, safer world." http://tinyurl.com/bmd2p2s
‘Graduated’ 38,000 students do not necessarily mean these students are doing well and living a sober, productive life. In fact, only 6.6-20% of Narconon graduates can be attributed to living drug free, and many of these only because, on their own initiative, participate in further individual and group therapy.
'According to Peter Gerdman, a Stockholm social worker who conducted a study in May 1983, the overall completion rate was only 23% of those who enrolled in their program' - - something Scientology and Narconon publications fail to mention.
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/studies.htm#swedish
Another questionable statement in their PR Newswire article: “The speaker also praised the Narconon Arrowhead staff for their relentless drug education outreach. Drug education specialist Nico Bain has been touring Oklahoma and neighboring states to lecture to schoolchildren, reaching anywhere from 500 to 1,000 young people in any given week.”
Although Narconon may still be infiltrating some public schools with their misleading and false drug lectures, most school districts in the USA, Canada, and elsewhere, have banned this nonsense. Their “Truth about Drugs” lectures campaign to indoctrinate young school children, is being exposed as unsafe and possibly dangerous quackery.
With three patient deaths inside Narconon Arrowhead and ongoing wrongful death and other lawsuits, Scientology drug rehabs are struggling with public image and media attention every week.
For more information about the Narconon controversy around the globe, the following website provides details about numerous deaths inside the centers and the very real dangers pertaining to the pseudoscientific drug addiction treatments.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narconon
David Edgar Love
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