In August of 2017 Against The Steam released a letter detailing the findings of their investigation into accusations of sexual misconduct against their founder Noah Levine. They found him guilty of violating the third precept of the Teacher's code of ethics: "To avoid creating harm through sexuality". This letter concluded that ATS would be closing it's doors and disassociating from Mr. Levine.

Due to this and their desire to free the program of association with any one person, the board of Refuge Recovery has been in the process of distancing itself from Noah and has been seeking to gain control of various Refuge Recovery trademarks including the rights to the book, so that they may remove his name and achieve a level of anonymity as most recovery programs do. Currently they are pursuing legal action against Mr. Levine as talks have broken down on his end.

Today, Spirit Rock, the community where Noah studied, released a letter detailing their findings from their separate investigation. They found his accuser's accounts to be detailed and reputable and have now barred him from teaching at any of their locations. Additionally his teacher, Jack Kornfield, has disempowered Noah. This is akin to being disbarred as a lawyer.

This saga has caused much harm and division to the Refuge Recovery community. Noah continues to assert himself as Refuge Recovery's leader and has gone so far as to start a for-profit rehabilitation program under the same name.

After the letter from Spirit Rock, it is clear that Mr. Levine is not fit to continue holding our community hostage via his ownership of their trademarks.

This petition seeks to have Noah:

1. Sign all related rights and trademarks associated with Refuge Recovery, including it's main text, over to the Refuge Recovery board (of which he is not a member).

2. Discontinue his association with Refuge Recovery as anything other than a member so that the community may heal the wounds that have culminated from his actions.

Link to the Spirit Rock letter can be found here: https://www.spiritrock.org/file/Spirit-Rock-EAR-Council-Statement-regarding-Noah-Levine.pdf?sfns=mo

Link to the Against The Steam letter can be found here: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.lionsroar.com/against-the-stream-confirms-sexual-misconduct-by-noah-levine-centers-to-shut-down/amp/