What Germans think about their Narconon
®, 21 Oct 91
The enterprising Scientology
®
sect increases its profits thanks
to the misery of addicts. The cover organization, Narconon,
offers drug rehabilitation therapy that, in the opinion of
experts and doctors in the field, is not only useless but also
dangerous. Former drug addicts tell of spending five hours a day
in the sauna and of brain-washing, including hours of monotonous
repetition of meaningless phrases. Many families spend all their
savings to cure their drug-addicted offspring but most of
Narconon's graduates are no less addicted than when they went in.
Former patients claim Narconon is only in it for the money.
Christoph Hubler, 22, from Switzerland slides around on his
chair, scratches his thigh then his face. As the minutes pass he
becomes increasingly restless. The apprentice metalworker
desperately needs a fix. He last injected himself last night now
it is already midday and the effect of the heroin has worn off.
Christoph jumps up and rushes with long strides toward the
bathroom.
He is a depressing sight, particularly for his father. Only a
few months ago the Swiss electrician Hansjorg Hubler scraped
together the francs needed to pay for therapy for his son. Now he
says, It was all a senseless waste.
Christoph spent ten weeks at the picturesque Bavarian
Schliersee. At Fiechhauson, 50 kilometers south of Munich, an
ominous sounding organization called Narconon runs a home for all
addicts midst the rolling pastures. They treat all types of
addicts: alcoholics, people dependent on pills, and heroin
addicts like Christoph. According to the organization's statute
the patients are supposed to learn to lead a life of
self-responsibility without their addictive drug.
A noble goal, but the reality looks different. Since Christoph
was at the home he is more addicted than ever before. He not only
shoots as much as beforethe countless red marks on his arms
attest to thatbut he now also regularly throws back large
quantities of alcohol. One arrives as a junkie, he says, and
leaves as an alcoholic.
What happens in this idyllic location is far from a
conventional drug therapy. The Scientologists who have 200,000
followers and turnover of 150 million Deutschemark (about 255
million dollars) a year in Germany alone use unsuitable methods
to get people off drugs. The result is usually a new addiction.
Instead of cocaine or heroin they provide the drug of the soul -
Scientology.
The house set in the foothills of the Alps is one of many such
centers run from the headquarters in Los Angeles. In Western
Europe they already boast 500 homes in England, Spain, Sweden,
Denmark and Italy and other countries. And in the Bavarian center
the first Russian is being trained. She will take the hardened
ideology of Scientology back to her homeland, where alcoholism is
widespread and the drug Mafia pursues its trade.
The desperate parents of the drug addicts, who entrust their
children to Narconon throughout the world usually have no idea
that they have become involved with a front organization of the
profit-addicted Scientologists. For the Hublers Narconon was the
last, deceitful hope. Christoph says, the Narconon people are
addicted themselves, addicted to money.
While Christoph was rolling joints and drinking vodka with his
pals at the Schliersee, Narconon employees were putting pressure
on his parents. His father had to pay ever-increasing sums of
money. In total Mr. Hubler paid over 15,000 DM.
Narconon closely follows the motto of the Scientology sect's
founder, Lafayette Ron Hubbard, who died in 1986 at the age of
74. The discoverer of this pseudo-scientific hocus pocus, gave
this advice: Make money, make more money, make other people make
money.
The disciples at Narconon follow this order. It is officially
an independent subsidiary of Scientology. The Scientologists have
developed countless supposedly humanitarian initiatives around
their church. One example is the commission for the violations of
psychiatry against human rights. Another is the organization for
the furthering of religious tolerance and interhuman relations.
In fact all these activities, like the drug rehabilitation
program, are only to further the fame and increase the paying
followers of the sect.
Therapy for addicts is a market with fantastic possibilities.
ln former East Germany alone 2 million people are said to be
alcoholic. Specialists estimate that about a million people are
dependent on pills and over 100,000 take hard drugs. The health
insurance spends about 800 million DM every year on the treatment
of addicts.
With his sound nose for good business, Hubbard already
prescribed his lessons for drug therapy in the mid- sixties. The
purification of a novice Scientologist uses rituals like the ones
used to treat addicts.
The American founder had a naive belief that the components of
the drug are deposited in the lymph of the addict. With a
purification rundown these substances are supposed to be washed
from the body.
For that the patients, known as students at Narconon, take
sweat cures lasting several weeks. They spend nearly five hours a
day in the sauna.
Vigilli Venzin, a Swiss drug expert says the method is
absolute rubbish and medically questionable. He says a short
sauna wouldn't harm the addicts since they are easily cold. But
more than two hours a day is far too much, unhealthy. Doctors
specializing in the field agree, medically all trash says Klaus
Behrendt of Hamburg's General Hospital Ochsenzoll. He runs the
detoxification unit of the hospital and says intensive saunas for
addicts is medieval.
Two days after the latest shot, heroin is broken down so much
that it is no longer detectable. In very unusual exceptions this
decomposition process can last a week, says Behrendt.
These days most addicts take several drugs at the same time.
They take heroin or cocaine as well as codeine or the sleeping
tablet Rohypnol. In those cases the withdrawal is totally
unpredictable. Two weeks after the last drug consumption some
patients still get cramps and hallucinations.
Experienced drug experts from the Munchen advice center,
Con-Drobs attempt such complex detoxification only under constant
medical supervision, says Gerhard Eckstein, the administrator of
Con-Drobs, otherwise it would be much too risky.
At Narconon they aren't as concerned. The junkie is examined
by Narconon's doctor, who lives 15 kilometers away, before
starting the treatment, and after that the only doctor who comes
is the emergency doctor. And that happens all the more often for
the lack of supervision. Time and again one of the students
collapses. The sauna is like torture, says Kurt Siegenthaler, 39,
"but what comes after is even more dangerous."
Siegenthaler is also Swiss. He is alcoholic and sniffs
cocaine. He spent a year at Narconon and survived the
psychological suction the Scientologists practice on the drug
addict.
After the cleansing ritual for the body follows the
purification of the spirit. The first session for beginners
consists of standing and staring each other in the eye for hours.
After that they partake in a nonsensical dialogue. For example:
Question: Do birds fly? Answer: Yes, thanks. Do birds fly? No
thanks. Do birds fly? Maybe. The dialogue is repeated for hours.
In an advanced exercise, the patient stands before a blank
wall. Organizer: Look at this wall. Answer: Thank you. Go over to
the wall. Thank you. Touch the wall. Thank you. Turn around.
Thank you. Then on to the next wall. The ritual continues up to
eight hours a day.
The monotonous courses go on until the student has an
experience of awakening. At some point you just take off,
Siegenthaler describes. Christoph Hubler says,They all totally
float.
Venzin observed the results of this brain-washing in his
patient, 21 year old Susanne. After three months she was
absolutely depersonalized. When she came back from the Narconon
center she spoke like a computer. She only came out of the trance
after two months and promptly relapsed into drug abuse...
Horst Niesel, the 43 year old head of Narconon for Germany,
Austria and German-speaking Switzerland claims to have a 50
percent success rate. But the pupils have other memories.
Siegenthaler can't remember one client who stayed clean. After a
few weeks they were nearly all there again, he says. An alcoholic
from Berlin has been back over a dozen times. Most of them just
can't do without Narconon.
The logical consequence of the detoxification cure is
Scientology. The pupil learns during his endless sessions to give
himself unconditionally to his trainer. The rehearsed drills are
of no practical worth outside of Scientology. The addict can only
make progress within the sect.
Narconon does not strengthen the patient's autonomy, as the
propaganda claims, but rather weakens the people who have
suffered years of disappointments and the worst despondence as
drug addicts.
That is why this kind of therapy results in a new dependency.
Narconon only achieves a transferal of addiction, says Axel
Siefert of Munich's state drug advisory center, We don't send
anyone there. Narconon is cut off from serious doctors and
advisers. In the mid-seventies the Berlin branch managed for a
while to obtain state drug program funds. But the error was
quickly rectified.
The organization moved to Bavaria in 1984, first to Gmund and
then to its present location, a former children's home on the
Schliefsee. There is room for 40 addicts, but the building is
usually only half full. The patient or their families have to
come up with the fee of 120 DM a day. The rehabilitation course
at Narconon is not covered by any medical insurance.
Narconon still finds people willing to admit themselves
because the waiting lists are so long at other centers. Addicts
have to wait three to six months to be taken in by Con-Drobs in
Munich, and the waiting list in Switzerland for heroin addicts is
up to two months. Narconon takes everyone immediately.
The aspiring patient only has to bring along enough money.
Narconon agents regularly do the tour of the fix-scene in
search of new clients. The Scientology subsidiary even pays
commission for new names and addresses.
Since the rent of the Narconon building is 12,400 DM a month,
Mr. Niesel doesn't like to see his victims leave. New arrivals
not only give up their identity papers, but also hand over all
their cash. That way the patient finds it difficult to leave
without permission.
Briska Vogt, 25, and her boyfriend Andreas, 27, who is a
heroin addict, only lasted a week at the Schliersee. One Sunday
afternoon the couple climbed out of a window and fled, hitching a
ride to Munich. They had the police help them get their
belongings back. But there was one good thing about the shock
experience with Niesel's band. That week was such a nightmare for
Andreas that he hasn't touched heroin since. The Narconon
experience doesn't strengthen other inmates. Drug therapist
Venzin knows of two addicts who have given themselves that final
golden shot shortly after leaving Narconon.
Pius Keel, a confirmed Scientologist of 22, ended his stay at
the Schliersee tragically. He got himself into deep debt for his
community. After some time at Narconon he complained to his
mother about the barefaced swindle. Narconon is only about money,
he said. On September 14, 1990, after less than two months at
Narconon, Pius packed his bags and threw himself under a train.
The name "Narconon"® is trademarked to the Scientology
organization through one of their many front groups. The name
"Scientology"® is also trademarked to the "Church"
of Scientology. Neither this web page, nor this web site, nor any of the
individuals mentioned herein assisting to educate the public about the
dangers of the Narconon scam are members of or representitives of the
Scientology organization.
If you or a loved one needs help -- real help -- there are
a number of rehabilitation programs you can contact. The real
Narcotics Anonymous organization
can get you in touch with real people who can help you.
Click [HERE] to visit Narcotics
Anonymous's web site. Narcotics Anonymous's telephone number is
1 (818) 773-9999.
Return to The NarCONon exposure's main Index page.
Forward: For a systematic, detailed, professional exposure of
Scientology's "Narconon" front group, visit the
Narconon Exposed web site.
`Der Spiegel' Magazine Profile
October 21, 1991
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