This article is in response to some parliamentarians of the Council of Europe (CoE) in Strassbourg, signing a "Written Declaration No 342" from 30 January 2003, recommending "Narconon", the "drug rehabilitation technology of L. Ron Hubbard". See <http://whyaretheydead.net/Narconon/>

Meanwhile on 2 April 2003 another document was signed, "Written Declaration No 345" <http://www.ingo-heinemann.de/Europarat+Narconon-2003.htm#345> which says that combatting drugs is a good thing and a legitimate concern. A cause for concern however was pro-Narconon Declaration No. 342. They now say the Narconon method was invented by Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, and "Its users become easy prey, more receptive to brainwashing. This programme in fact replaces drug dependence with dependance on Scientology."

The new counter Declaration would have been a good opportunity for the Council members who erred the first time and signed the pro-Narconon Declaration and didn't know at the time what they were signing. Sadly not everyone took the opportunity and so need to be taken to task.

Like in the following article, which was sent to me. Keep in mind it is a badly OCR'd text so I can't guarantee its word for word accuracy. Most obvious errors I did remove and used a spell checker:

Page 6 News The Sunday Tribune 18.05.03 Politicians slammed over support for Scientology Scheme

RICHARD OAKLEY

Two senior Irish politicians have landed themselves in hot water by supporting a campaign to gain Council of Europe recognition for a drug treatment programme linked to the controversial church of scientology. The two, senators Jim Higgins of Fine Gael and senator Brendan Daly of Fianna Fail, a former government minister, last week distanced themselves from the matter and have claimed they lent their support mistakenly

The two were included on a list of members of the Council of Europe who s1gned a declaration supporting a drug treatment scheme known as Narconon. The scheme is controversial as it follows the drug rehabilitation methods of L Ron Hubbard the founder of the church of scientology.

It has been claimed that Narconon has been used to recruit members to the Church, described as a cult by many experts, at the same time as treating their drug addiction. The church of scientology has denied these claims and has defended itself in legal actions, but controversy still surrounds its activities.

The move to seek official recognition of Narconon at EU level is understood to have been started by a member of the council. According to Higgins and Daly, they became involved only after signing a declaration supporting the scheme.

Both politicians say they signed the declaration without knowing that the treatment scheme was linked to scientology The declaration did state that Narconon used the methods of Ron Hubbard; however,the two said they did not make the connection with scientology It seemed like a commendable organisation and so we signed the declaration. We get asked to sign hundreds of these things," Higgins said.

"I didn't realise it was linked to scientology I just though it was a drugs prevention and treatment support scheme," said Daly.

Both Daly and Higgins said they would not have signed the declaration if they knew Narconon was linked to the church of scientology and both have said they did not want to be connected in any way to the church. Daly said he asked soon afterwards for his name to be removed from the declaration but was told this could not be done.

in the Council of Europe, declarations can be drawn up and signed by individual members. However, unless they are approved by the parliamentary assembly they have little or no meaning. They are merely supported by those who signed then.

However, in response to the Narconon declaration, a second one was drawn up by another member refuting the first; it was signed by more members. It said protecting young people from drug abuse is a legitimate concern for member states of the Council of Europe, but those who signed it "urge member states to exercise extreme caution regarding methods for the treatment of drug addicts which are not implemented under the responsibility of suitable trained specialists". It claimed that Narconon programme "replaced drug dependence with dependence on scientology". Supporters of Narconon would deny this.

The church of scientology has many well-known followers such as film stars John Travolta and Tom Cruise, but has always been controversial because of concerns related to some of its activities and the fees it charges.

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Mike Gormez

- Visit Occupied Clearwater with Nessie http://nessie.psychassualt.org/
- Death and lies. Lisa is gone the lies remain - http://lisa.whyaretheydead.net
- Scientology: Cocaine not addictive - http://members.lycos.nl/gormez/cocaine/
- RPF kids and their misery http://www.whyaretheydead.net/childabuse/rpf-children.html