hen I first came to Narconon, I was in very bad shape. My alcohol consumption level was incredible. When you have bouts of praying to die you know you are in critical shape. Narconon’s program completely changed my life. With my new-found confidence and attitude, I feel I can achieve anything I set my mind to. ... The most important thing that I learned from this course was to get back into control in my life and the knowledge to help other people do the same.”
So says Tony, who completed the Narconon drug and alcohol rehabilitation program at the network’s Toronto facility.
He is not alone. The Toronto centre has successfully helped hundreds of addicts to return to a life free from such drugs as heroin, crack, cocaine, and, as in Tony’s case, alcohol. And he joins literally tens of thousands of others who have gained new hope and new life at Narconon centres around the world.
Narconon’s own story is fascinating. It began in Arizona State Prison in the 1960s through the efforts of William Benitez, a hard-core addict from the age of 13. He had unsuccessfully tried many ways to kick his 18-year heroin habit, including joining the Marines, committing himself to hospitals for care and therapy, and isolating himself in mining towns.
After pleading guilty to possession of narcotics on December 22, 1964, Benitez entered prison yet again – his fourth term.
Back behind bars, Benitez turned to a pile of books given to him by a friend. Among them he found Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought, by L. Ron Hubbard.
“That small book impressed me more than anything else I had ever read before,” Benitez said. “I read it over and over and then got additional books by Mr. Hubbard and studied them very carefully over the months. The material identified human abilities and their development.”
Using this information, Benitez was able to conquer his own addiction. As he continued reading, he realized that Mr. Hubbard’s discoveries offered the first genuine hope to addicts, and in 1966 he began to apply that material to help his fellow inmates.
Benitez wrote to Mr. Hubbard, who congratulated him and encouraged him to expand the program.
“New Hope for the Future”
The program grew and the first Narconon center outside prison walls opened in Los Angeles in 1971. Today Narconon’s services are available at 38 drug rehabilitation and drug prevention centers in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Colombia, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Holland, England and Russia.
It is officially recognized in several countries as the most effective drug rehabilitation available and receives govern- ment funding in a number of nations. Narconon has an unsurpassed success rate, according to independent studies, with up to 72 percent of its graduates still off drugs after two years. More and more, judges and government agencies refer drug addicts to Narconon for rehabilitation, rather than to jail or prison. Such an option is afforded by courts in Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United States.
While it is strongly supported by the Church of Scientology, Narconon is an independent, non-profit corporation that is non-religious. Its secular program is open to people of all races and creeds.
Narconon began to use a detoxification program in 1979 based on breakthroughs which Mr. Hubbard made concerning the long-term biochemical effects of drugs – a major discovery that residues of drugs and toxins lodge in the fatty tissues of the body and stay there for years after they have been ingested. These residues can create adverse effects on the individual causing fatigue, lack of perception and confused thinking. This discovery forms the basis for a revolutionary detoxification program which removes the residual toxins and drugs from the body.
“Customary medical procedures held no solution to this problem of drug and toxic residuals,” said Megan Shields, M.D., a medical adviser to Narconon. “Various ‘treatments’ were proffered, ranging from the psychiatric viewpoint of getting the person to believe that the problem he was experiencing from toxins was all in his mind, to the administration of drugs to suppress the symptoms exhibited. These ‘treatments’ only served to compound the problem. No breakthrough was made until L. Ron Hubbard attacked this problem head-on.”
Shields put both casual and long-term heavy drug users she describes as physically “ravaged by the effects of drugs” through the program.
“The depression, hopelessness and fear which so often accompany such problems were evident in many of these patients,” she said. “Upon completion of the program, these people were changed both physically and mentally. The common theme expressed by those who completed the program is that they were no longer encumbered by chemicals which were shutting off their lives. They expressed increased mental clarity and new hope for the future. Their lives upon completion of the program were happier, healthier and more productive.”
The Narconon program also uses an exact series of drills, exercises and study steps which enable an addict to not only “kick his habit” but to assist the person to address the problem areas in his life which were a direct cause of his addiction.
Further steps in the program include a series of communication exercises which assist the person to improve his relationships with others, a course which teaches the basics of how to study and courses to help the person deal with various situations that can arise in his life. The result is a person who knows that he is free from drugs and drug residuals and also free from any desire to take drugs again. — T.W.
For more information about the Narconon program, call Narconon at (800) 468-6933.
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