Narconon’s Scientology rehab violates patient rights from the beginning by lying about who they are. And about what they do. Adamantly, they deny being Scientology by claiming they’re secular and independent from the church. I attest to the fact that isn’t true.

Narconon doesn’t refer to their victims as patients. Instead, they more accurately refer to them as students. Addicts show-up believing they’ll receive one on one therapy sessions and drug treatment services. However, they receive neither. Instead, they’re subject to a Scientology indoctrination program.

1. The Recruitment Process

Narconon’s Scientology rehab violates patient rights by employing an internet scam for recruitment. Narconon perpetrates hundreds of fraudulent websites posing as legitimate drug and alcohol help resources.

You call the number provided and a Narconon staff member, (known as the reg) answers the phone. The reg guides the conversation through a scripted process of locating your money.

You believe that the person on the phone is helping you to find the best rehab for the addict you love. However, you’re speaking to the rehab the deceptive reg will guide you to. That rehab is called Narconon and there is zero mention of L. Ron Hubbard or Scientology in the pitch.

The reg is a salesman who is surviving on a 10% commission for every victim they signup. Because of this, the reg lies religiously and will say anything to get you on the plane.

Traditional reg lies include counseling, massage therapy, and yoga. Read further details of their deceptive recruitment methods in Scientology Scam Abducting to Recruit.

2. No Licensed or Medical Staff at Narconon

Despite being promoted as one of the reasons for their thirty thousand dollar price tag, Narconon doesn’t employ medical staff at their facilities. Additionally, licensed drug and alcohol therapists aren’t available. Despite misinforming families of these services.

Furthermore, the entire facility is operated by former addicts who complete their programming and stay on as cheap labor.

Yes, you are reading that correctly! When you send your loved one to Narconon, the people in charge of recovery are an eclectic mix of newly-recovered drug addicts. None of whom are licensed, professional, or medical personnel. Some of whom are still secretly using drugs and alcohol.

Numerous students have died under Narconon’s watch. And even more, have left Narconon facilities to immediately overdose and die because they didn’t receive drug treatment. Recently, a family was awarded eleven million dollars for Narconon’s negligence that resulted in the death of a student named John Cunningham.

3. The Refusal of Prescription Medications

Narconon’s Scientology rehab violates patient rights by denying them their prescription medications. I told the staff about my high blood pressure and was informed there is zero-tolerance drug policy.

Additionally, instructed that Narconon means, no narcotics. As if somehow this statement is relevant to dismissing my request for medication.

No one will contest the legitimacy of denying narcotics at a drug rehab. However, blood pressure medication doesn’t fall into that drug category. In fact, there are at least eleven blood pressure medication classifications. And none of them are narcotic.

Additionally, people are denied their antidepressants and antipsychotics. Do you realize how dangerous it is to suddenly stop taking these medications?

Quitting medication without a doctor’s approval is never advised. But a person stopping their antipsychotics can be frightening. Also, going cold turkey off antidepressants can actually worsen your depression!

4. Forbidden Communication With Outside World

Before leaving home, my reg promised me that I could call my daughter every day. Upon arriving at the airport, I found out that I could not. This posed a huge problem, as I’d promised my four-year-old little girl that I would. And now, I was unwillingly breaking another promise.

Considerations aren’t made for individual circumstances. I wasn’t allowed any phone calls for my first couple of weeks there. Furthermore, all future calls are monitored to ensure you don’t tell.

Narconon alleges it’s to keep you in the present time and focused on your recovery. However, it’s actually to keep you from communicating with your family about any of the idiosyncrasies you encounter during the beginning stages of indoctrination.

Additionally, Scientology rehab violates patient rights by posing as a licensed counseling staff. Despite wearing the hat, none of these former drug addicts are qualified to provide counseling services.

Student’s loved ones receive a phone call, every day, from a staff member posing as a legitimate counselor. Their purpose is to report your progress and they make up every word of their report.

In fact, if you’re a bad student, or, potential trouble source, (PTS) counselors put blocks in. Putting blocks in means calling to coach (lie to) the family and make sure that they won’t allow you to come home.

For example, a counselor might tell your family that you’ve been refusing to do the program. Or, that you’re disrespectful and lashing out. Preparing the family before the student calls to report injustices about how to respond to their complaints.

Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for drug addicts to complain about rehab. Narconon uses this reality to convince your family that’s all you’re doing and it’s completely normal. Therefore, families don’t really listen to their loved ones and no help (or rescue) is given.

5. Scientology Rehab’s Drug-Free Withdrawal

In the first couple of weeks, students spend their time at a withdrawal house, not at the center. During this time students are withdrawing from hard drugs under the supervision of interns distracted by their cell phones. One of many reasons Scientology rehab violates patient rights during the drug-free withdrawal process.

Additionally, students consume a forced regimen of megadoses of vitamins and minerals known as drug bombs.

Narconon’s Drug Bomb

So to be clear, students drink four of these drug bombs each day. Let’s look at those consumption numbers.

Niacinamide is Niacin. So in addition to whatever dosage students are receiving during their sauna program, they’re ingesting an additional 4000mg. Meaning, some students are consuming 9000mg of niacin each day!

6. Narconon’s Sauna Program

Narconon’s website promotes an entirely different picture than the actual sauna experience. The center is filthy and run down. It lacks working treadmills. And the sauna is a tiny box in comparison to the images shown.

During the sauna program students are mandated to take unhealthy amounts of niacin, vitamins, and minerals. It’s not optional and side effects are not only unpleasant but dangerous.

A typical day in the sauna begins with taking niacin. Students are instructed under L. Ron Hubbard tech that niacin flushes drug residuals permanently from the body. Furthermore, Narconon teaches that their sauna program cures drug addiction. And by purging these residuals, you will no longer experience drug cravings. I attest to the fact its complete bullshit.

Niacin dosage begins with 100mg and ends with 5000mg for all sauna students. According to the Mayo Clinic, the recommended daily amount of niacin for adult males is 16 mg. Furthermore, an adult woman, (who isn’t pregnant) daily recommendation is 14 mg.

To put those numbers in perspective, the final requirement is more than 312 times the daily recommended dose for adult men. And more than 357 times the daily recommended dose for adult women!

After swallowing the niacin, students run for 20 minutes before getting into the sauna for 4 1/2 hours. Temperatures report being between 150-180 degrees depending on location.

Once inside the box, students endure these temperatures while experiencing severe niacin responses. Told that niacin reactions are the drug residuals purging their bodies. Instructed that,

What turns it on, turns it off.

Students can’t leave the sauna during their niacin reactions and suffer immensely. The Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research (MFMER) advises that these reactions are actually symptoms of a niacin overdose. Warning people shouldn’t ingest more than 1000mg and only that level if it’s prescribed.

Niacin Overdose Symptoms and Signs Include:

Itching

Severe redness and flushing

Dizziness

Rapid heartbeat

Abdominal pain

Diarrhea

Nausea and vomiting

While I personally didn’t have severe reactions to my niacin, I witnessed them. Many students experience all of the above symptoms. They aren’t allowed to exit the sauna unless they need to get sick. However, once diarrhea and vomiting conclude, students go back into the box for the program’s duration.

7. Signing Contracts Under Duress

Scientology rehab violates patient rights by forcing students who are high on drugs to sign paperwork for Narconon’s legal protection.

Because one of the first orders of business you encounter at Narconon is your intake paperwork. A large packet of documents is presented and signatures are coerced. Regardless of your state or condition. Of course making them, by law, unenforceable contracts.

I attest to the fact that I was high on valium and don’t recall what I signed. My withdrawal specialist read a folder worth of information to me but I honestly don’t remember it.

However, I do recall having to sign something saying that I wasn’t an undercover reporter. The question was strange for a rehab to be asking, so it stuck with me. Furthermore, I am uncertain but believe there may have been a tape recorder in the room. Nevertheless, forced signatures while high, are yet another reason Scientology rehab violates patient rights.

8. The Narconon Program is Financial Fraud

When you swipe your card for a thirty thousand dollar purchase and don’t receive what you purchased, how else would you describe it? Ultimately, every single person who has written a check to Narconon is a victim of financial fraud crimes.

As a consumer, if you order something and when you receive it’s not what you ordered, you are within your rights to return it and demand a full refund.

So how is Narconon able to collect money for drug rehab when there is zero drug rehabilitation going on? Shouldn’t they be liable for refunding all of their victims? Unfortunately, it’s been six years for me and I fear I’ve missed that mark. For more recent scams visit Narconon Lawsuits and see about filing a claim.

9. It’s Not Drug Rehab

So obviously, the biggest reason Scientology violates patient rights is by not providing drug treatment! There is zero introduction to a 12-Step, or of the cognitive-behavioral therapy models. Two widely acknowledged methods for treating drug addiction.

Instead, students read and complete eight beginning indoctrination books into Scientology. Every book is based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard.

Once the program is complete you’re a practicing Scientologist and don’t know it. I’ve been told that students are level four Scientologists by the time they graduate. But I cannot confirm it’s legitimacy.

Unfortunately, most students who attend the Narconon Scientology Rehab scam don’t stay sober. Several students go home to immediately overdose and die. Other’s relapse or switch to vices generally accepted by peers, like alcohol and marijuana.

Please drop your comments below for a discussion about this cult’s deceptive practices. And please show your support by sharing my article. I work really hard on these, thanks! #ShutDownNarconon

Similar Reading:

Introduction to Scientology Rehab