Key Facts | Why
Criticise Narconon?
Narconon & Its Critics | Is
Narconon A Scam?
What is the Narconon programme?
- Narconon's clients go through four stages designed
to detoxify their bodies and reform their lives and practices:
- Drug-Free Withdrawal - equivalent to "cold
turkey", stopping all drug taking and tackling the resulting physical
and mental pain with vitamin doses and "assists", a form of
spiritual healing.
- Therapeutic TRs Course - a series of drills
performed with another person which aim to "bring about interaction
between the individual and the existing physical universe".
- New Life Detoxification Program - an intensive
programme of running, massive overdoses of vitamins and very long sauna
sessions, designed to "run out" drugs and radiation from the
body.
- Life Improvement Courses - a series
of short courses which aim to improve a person's ability to study, communicate
and exercise moral judgements.
MORE
INFO
> What
is the Narconon Programme?
- The overall cost of the Narconon programme is a flat
fee of about $15,000. It takes between 3 months and up to a year to complete.
Narconon's Effectiveness
- Narconon's studies, which supposedly show a success
rate of about 70%, are often very hard to obtain as Narconon does not seem
to want to distribute them even though it publicises their conclusions;
many are old (up to 30 years old, when the programme was very different);
several have systematically been misquoted or misrepresented, so that a
poor result looks like a good one.
MORE
INFO > Does
Narconon Work? - Studies
- Narconon's research papers, which are usually about
Hubbard's purification programme in general rather than Narconon specifically,
are of dubious value as almost all seem to be unreviewed; the majority are
written by Scientologists, employees of Narconon or other Scientology-related
organisations, or proponents of Hubbard's theories, all of whom have religious
or economic reasons for endorsing them. These links and possible biases
are invariably not disclosed.
MORE
INFO > Does
Narconon Work? - Research Papers
- Narconon's "success stories" are mostly
obtained compulsorily from its clients and have little objective value.
The way that they are obtained and used makes them virtually worthless.
MORE
INFO > Does
Narconon Work? - Success Stories
Is Narconon Valid?
- Narconon's originator, L. Ron Hubbard, had a minimal
scientific education and made many false claims about his qualifications,
including obtaining a fake degree so that he could falsely call himself
a "Doctor".
MORE
INFO > L.
Ron Hubbard & Science and The
"Nuclear Physicist"
- Hubbard had no education or qualifications in medicine
and made numerous false claims about medical matters, including selling
bogus medications for curing radiation sickness and cancer, while also denouncing
and attacking conventional medicine.
MORE
INFO > L.
Ron Hubbard and Medicine and Scientology versus
Medicine
- Much of Narconon's "science" is based
on provably false scientific statements by Hubbard, such as that niacin
breaks up fat (it doesn't), that LSD is stored in the body (it isn't), and
that radiation can be sweated out of the body (it can't). The research upon
which Narconon is supposedly based has never been published or subjected
to scientific validation.
MORE
INFO > Hubbard's
Junk Science
Is Narconon Safe?
- Narconon's detoxification programme completely
cuts off the addict's supply of drugs, rather than wean him off - an approach
similar to "cold turkey" methods. Doctors and drug addiction experts
regard "cold turkey" as dangerous.
MORE
INFO > Is
Narconon Safe? - Cold Turkey
- Narconon uses massive overdoses of vitamins and
minerals as well as vastly extended sauna sessions at doses and exposures
many times beyond the safe limits, with serious potential side-effects including
organ damage and death.
MORE
INFO > Is
Narconon Safe? - Dangerous Detoxification
- Narconon's staff are often former clients, some
hired immediately on graduation. This has been criticised as risky and inappropriate,
and their training has been described as inadequate.
MORE
INFO > Is
Narconon Safe? - Poorly Trained Staff
- Narconon's practice of allowing its clients to
treat each other has been strongly criticised as inappropriate and potentially
endangering their health and safety.
MORE
INFO > Is
Narconon Safe? - Inappropriate Treatment
- The fact that Narconon is based on bogus science
causes serious risks for clients' health and safety, as Hubbard frequently
disregards or is ignorant of side-effects and often misinterprets adverse
effects as actually being positive.
MORE
INFO > Is
Narconon Safe? - Bad Science
Narconon's Supporters
- Narconon's individual supporters are often Scientologists,
employees of Narconon or otherwise connected with Scientology-related entities.
Few corporate sponsors are named, except only in the vaguest terms, while
other groups which have supported Narconon are often Scientology-related.
A small number of government organisations have funded Narconon but programmes
have invariably been terminated. The Scientology links are almost never
disclosed publicly.
MORE
INFO > Narconon's
Supporters
Narconon and Scientology
- Narconon's practices are invariably taken directly
from Scientology's religious doctrines, with only minimal changes to obscure
their origins (such as systematically deleting the word "Scientology").
MORE
INFO > Narconon
& Scientology - Doctrines
- Narconon is organised virtually identically to
the Church of Scientology, is presently supervised and directed by a separately
incorporated "sector" of the Scientology conglomerate (although
not the Church itself) and appears to have been under the direct control
of the Church proper throughout the 1970s.
MORE
INFO > Narconon
& Scientology - Organisations
- The vast majority of Narconon's executives, and
many of its rank-and-file staff, appear to be practicing Scientologists.
There is also evidence that Narconon has actively recruited for Scientology.
MORE
INFO > Narconon
& Scientology - Personnel
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