dc wrote:

> I am looking for a good place for my brother to get over heroin and alcohol.
>
> In CA their is a Narconon in Newport Beach. I am not a scientologist,
> although I tend to agree with much of scientology, being a 35 year
> practising buddhist.

I fail to see any relationship between buddhism and Scientology. Your statement is a nonsequitur. What is it you tend to agree with? The stuff Hubbard plagiarized from other beliefs to present himself as a philosopher? Wake up and smell the incense! The "beliefs" of Scientology are a smoke screen, meant to distract you from its true purpose, separating the unwary from their money. Look behind the veil, lift the tail of the skunk, and see what lies hidden. It's easy to do. Obviously, you have access to the web. Seeing how things truly are is a precept of Buddhism. Total awareness. Do a little research before you make such naive statements, m'kay? Try starting with www.xenu.net. That'll enlighten you.

>
> My brother would probably rather do a detox and rehab with
> Scientologists then Jesus freaks. I am trying to interest him in the
> program, he does not know that it is related to Scientology yet.
>
> I would prefer a program that is unlike the typical rehabs.
>
> What I would like to know from all of you is, does Narconon really do
> good work and is it really succesfull for Heroin and Alcohol
> treatment? Also, is it as the detractors say, a "front" for
> scientology, (*in a tricky sense) and is the "one time fee" of
> $23,000.00 for as long as a person needs it, or does it mutate into get
> into scientology of else, and pay forever, as the detractors might say?

Why don't you look at www.narconon-exposed.org for some answers? Short answer to your questions, yes, Narconon is unlike the typical rehabs. It has a 6% success rate, compared with 10% for recovery with no guidance. The courses are pure Scientology, and 70% of "graduates" continue on to become indoctrinated Scientologists. And yes, once there, you DO pay forever, until the day you wake up and realize you've been suckered into a con. By then, you could have wasted years of your life laboring, not to save the planet, but to keep Hubbard's successor wallowing in ill-gotten wealth.

Not to mention the health hazards of the purification rundown, where potentially toxic amounts of niacin are administered to clients. This can cause permanent damage to your liver, especially if the organ is already compromised by years of drug abuse. If you love your brother, I'd find it hard to believe that you would encourage him to fall into Narconon's hands. There are things worse than being a junkie, to my mind. Being a Scientologist is one of them. Going through the rest of your life with a destroyed liver is another.

>
> I am one who doesn't automatically buy into the accusations against
> scientology or automatically believe the critics., but I am fully
> cognizant of cult-type behavior, when some people in various types of
> groups get into a gang-think type of thing.

Then I suggest you do a little research on your own, rather than asking to be spoon-fed answers here. Look at both sides carefully. Understand the difference between unsupported statements, and actual data which has been researched, attributed, and verified. "Narconon has helped thousands," is an unsupported statement, and they offer nothing to back it up. Indeed, the 70% success rate they flaunt isn't supported by any independent research, and Narconon will not provide any solid data on "studys" they refer to, such as who did the study and when. Moreover, the 70% success rate was based on a very small population sample (are you following me here?) and the statistics were massaged to skew the results. See, they decided that counting people who hadn't completed the course didn't count, so they dropped them out of the final analysis. In the real world, of course, completion failures would count as failures, period. By counting in those numbers, you arrive at a 6% success rate, well below the rate of recovery without any counselling or treatment. Got it? Narconon has a very effective PR machine behind it. Again, you have to look behind the slick promotion to gain any understanding of the Narconon program. Yes, it is a front group for Scientology. No, it doesn't work very well. It replaces drug addiction with addiction to the Scientology group. But, do your own research. Think for yourself, the information is available if you care to look.

>
> Feel free to present both sides. By the way I worked 18 years in
> Psychiatric wards and know how pitiful all that is.

And those sad people wouldn't be qualified for Scientology processing. The mentally ill generally don't have large amounts of disposable income. Since Scientology is rabidly opposed to the mental health field in general, and they won't help the mentally ill, where do you suppose all those people could go for help in a Scientology world?

zim