Introduction to Scientology Rehab

Years have passed since attending the Narconon Fresh Start Program (Scientology Rehab) in Warner Springs, California. My family trusted that I would be receiving drug rehabilitation.

Instead, I’d been deceitfully recruited to join the cult of Scientology.

After coming home, I witnessed people I’d survived the program with overdose and die. Seeing rest in peace, preceding a tagged name in my Facebook feed, triggered a physical aching in my chest.

Tears often well up in my eyes reliving those moments. One tag, two tags, three tags, four. How many more will post? The following years bring more. Drug addiction hadn’t killed anyone I loved prior.

Each death devastated the survivors and they still do. People died and continue to die. Because the Church of Scientology, (COS) is betraying the entire world with its Scientology rehab scam.

Personal Disclosure

Before entering Narconon, I had never heard of L. Ron Hubbard, (LRH) or his Scientology rehab. With the exception of Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah’s couch, I had zero understanding.

When I began writing my previous Narconon series, I had an audience of Scientology rehab peers actively reading it. Including those who were (are) still working for the cult.

I wanted to include all my friends in the story and was catering to my audience. But I never finished it. After losing several Scientology rehab buddies, I couldn’t continue that story.

Why Now

Because I didn’t fully understand the magnitude of the situation I had survived and escaped. It wasn’t until I began researching Narconon and Scientology, and binging Leah Remini’s show that my mind started processing the evil nature of this deceptive cult.

I got angry and I couldn’t believe what I was witnessing. During my time at Narconon, I was a practicing Scientologist! And I didn’t know it.

Deceived into believing that I owed the program something for saving my life. But my sobriety is not a Narconon success story. I am saved by grace alone.

However, I won’t deny that God placed a lot of angels along my road to recovery. I would not have survived Scientology rehab without them.

And I’m grateful. As angry as I am, I place none of the blame on the victims that I survived the trauma with. I love you all.

Even those I wasn’t capable of loving back then. If you’re reading, please forgive me.

I was an immature drug addict and was literally out of my mind. We survived abuses together and I’ve grown and matured a lot since that time in my life.

Where I’m At Today

My father has Aphasia which is progressing into Alzheimer’s disease. He found out about it right after he and his wife retired and were planning to enjoy their golden years together. Unfair, barely describes their circumstance.

He (and his wife) sacrificed forty-thousand dollars of their retirement for me to receive drug treatment that I never received. As he gets closer to needing hospice care, I am angrier.

And I am resentful. My parents may struggle because the COS stole from them. I don’t know if that’s their future reality. But I worry about it.

My dad is getting worse every day. And I’m not ready. Although, I doubt anyone is ever ready for this.

It’s challenging and I smoke weed daily. I started smoking once I left the comfort of my two-year isolation and reentered the workforce. Sobriety is much easier when you’re always home without outside influence.

Narconon isn’t recovery. It’s Scientology rehab, but without the rehabilitation. They don’t provide you with the education and tools you need to stay sober.

Eventually, you relapse. Almost everyone I attended with has either relapsed, switched their vices, (myself included) or overdosed and died. Only a handful remain clean and sober.

Join Me in Speaking Out

Victims without voices. Drug addicts, our friends, our family, are going home and dying daily. Because they are victims of the COS’s deception.

How dare they prey on these people! They’re still dying. The COS knows that drug addicts are liars. Betting on them, not acknowledged as credible witnesses. Allowing the church to faithfully employ these deceitful tactics.

How many will die before the COS is held accountable? Will you share your story and make our voices heard?

Our message needs sharing to serve as a warning to unsuspecting families desperately seeking help for the addict in their life. Just say no to Narconon.

If you’re a former student, intern or staff and want to bear witness and tell your story, (or add to mine) please email me at thatcrazygirlblogger@gmail.com.

This post contains affiliate links. I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. Read more on my Disclosure page.

Scientology Rehab Accountability

Narconon has over 50 locations around the world and they’re spreading. Do you realize the power (money) that Narconon’s deception has to have spread globally?

Misrepresenting themselves as drug rehabilitation care while being an indoctrination campus for Scientology is criminal.

Map at MuckRock

Legal ramifications deserve to be executed on a massive scale. Additionally, the COS needs to be held financially liable. Refunding everyone who paid for drug rehabilitation.

Because no portion of their program revolves around recovery. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

It’s a global fraud. Substantial compensation’s warranted. In addition to a refund for the families of the deceased.

What is the restitution for robbing mothers and fathers of holding their children again?

I apologize for not finding the strength to be a voice until now. No one wants to invite the backlash that comes along with speaking out against the COS. But I have several people haunting my head.

It’s been six years and I can’t shake them. These people were big parts of only a small-time, but of a huge circumstance in my life. And I can’t ignore them anymore. I won’t.

The Fraudulent Websites and Hotline

My family had no idea dialing an internet hotline would engage the first part of Narconon’s scam. While not present for my parent’s conversation, I have insider knowledge of what it sounded like on the other end.

As an intern, I assumed the opportunity to monitor calls when I was training to become the recruiter.

A recruiting position at Narconon known as a registrar, or the reg, deceive unsuspecting victims into writing checks and signing their loved ones up for the indoctrination.

Narconon operates fraudulent websites that perpetuate themselves as legitimate addiction resource sites.

Read the elaborated portion of this part of the story in the previously published article linked below. Or continue scrolling to keep reading.

The Mock Interview and Promised Amenities

Narconon has the audacity to impose a mock interviewing process and each candidate is subject to it to determine eligibility.

Helping preserve the illusion of prestige they’ve created, as being a credible rehab with impeccable success rates. It’s a farce. Eligibility strictly adheres to whether or not your check clears.

Reg Lies During My Mock Interview

The reg (the successful ones) will say anything to get you onto the airplane. My reg promised that I would be able to walk barefoot on the beach every day of my recovery. However, the center is in the desert and it was only one of many lies.

Additional Lies Included:

Private/Double Occupancy Rooms

Flat-screen TV in Every Room

Stocked Minifridges in Every Room

Heated Swimming Pool

Hot Tub for Aching Muscles

Daily Massage With Personal Massage Therapist

Daily One-on-One Counseling With Personal Therapist

75% Recovery Success Rate

Do you have any idea what it felt like showing up to receive these services as part of my detoxing and rehab, and then to have none of it be true? Ultimately, it was traumatic.

Infamous Glendale Reg Lies at Scientology Rehab

All reg’s lie. They wouldn’t successfully recruit people if they told them the truth. Truth is that it’s a rundown facility that continuously runs out of supplies and barely provides even your basic needs.

Infamous Glendale Reg Fables Include:

A Lake With Jet Skis

A Golf Course

Vending Machines

Pool Tables

Indoor Gym

Horseback Riding

Yoga Classes

Mountain Dew

Cigarettes

Chapel

90% Recovery Success Rate

Notably, the vilest untruth was the indication of Narconon’s legal department. My family and I were conned into believing that their legal defense team would communicate with my attorney. In order to settle community service requirements, I had court-mandated at home.

Legal Woes

Being in trouble with the law was foreign to me. I followed my lawyer’s advice and trusted that he knew what was best. In that same sense, I trusted that Narconon’s legal department would handle my circumstances.

Drug addicts are criminal by nature of their title. So legal woes before recovery aren’t uncommon. My family was assured, (and reassured) that a legal department exists at Narconon.

Furthermore, Narconon expressed that my requirements would, (most likely) be waived. As a rehab in lieu of community service situation. Consoled as this being a daily success for their legal team.

First, no legal department existed. Second, neither did a legal defense team. Despite this reality, the office staff assumed the role.

The office staff being drug addicts who had only recently completed their programs. And have no experience in law. Except, of course, breaking them!

Ultimately, I was told that my community service hours were dismissed. Because of my dedication to rehabilitation.

Two-Years After Scientology Rehab

Two-years after I returned home, I applied for a condo and submitted a background check. Rejected and confused, I prodded the renter for more information.

Reluctant at first, she informed me of a warrant out for my arrest! Incurred three years earlier while captive at Narconon!

My heart was beating hysterically in my chest upon hearing this news. My head pounded as fear infiltrated every grit of my existence. For the second time, Narconon fucked me out of my ocean view!

Moment to Reflect on What That Meant at This Stage of My Life

I was two-years sober and putting my life back together with a decent-paying job and a promising future. And very excited to relocate to a condo across the street from the beach.

Unbeknownst to me, I was driving around for two-years with a warrant out for my arrest!

Imagine being pulled over (with my then, six-year-old daughter) in the car. Handcuffed, arrested and impounded. Terrifying for me; traumatizing for her. Furthermore, I’d be thrown into the county jail.

Surrounded by my old drug dealers and heroin heads from the street. What could that experience do to my sobriety?

Narconon would bear no responsibility despite being directly liable. It’s criminal. And I am certain I’m not the only one who went home and experienced this reality.

The Lawyer and the Judge

Immediately, I called my lawyer. Shaken and elated he couldn’t believe it was me. Additionally, he expressed:

It was as if you were being held captive. They refused to let me speak to you directly. I left several messages and never heard anything from you. I worried about you.

Despite my own practice of intercepting incoming messages as an intern and withholding them from new students, I didn’t realize the weight of his words at that time.

He took my case but due to Narconon’s negligence, it costs me a lot more money. Gratefully, the judge acknowledged the dangers of what going to jail or serving community service might have on my sobriety.

Terminating both options with his congratulations. But not without issuing a firm warning to not step foot in his courtroom again. I’ve concurred.

Medical Detox at Scientology Rehab

Promoted heavily with a strict drug-free philosophy, Narconon is willing to accommodate those who demand medical detox prior to committing to rehab.

Although, there isn’t medical staff at either location. I stayed at a couple of millions-dollar-mansion in Murrieta. The shower seats many and there are a million different faucets shooting water at you from all directions.

A large jacuzzi tub invites you to soak your sore muscles and let the stress melt away. I’ve never experienced that scale of luxury. But I guarantee you– it’s short-lived.

Withdrawal Specialists of Scientology Rehab

A personal intern is assigned to watch you through the drug-free process. This Scientology rehab scam calls them withdrawal specialists (WS). It’s their job to ensure you don’t run. Essentially, they’re there to cater to you until the check clears.

You are addressed as a student rather than a patient. During this time, you’re treated like royalty. Sleep is on a large bed with oversized pillows. You may have any food or drink you request.

My WS was pleasant but uninformative. She refused to answer any questions about the program or the center I would be staying at. The conversation is always redirected to remaining in the present time.

I understand now that she was instructed to handle me and not to answer questions. As I was coached not to when I was an intern. Avoiding the confrontation of defending the reg’s lies.

Unforgivable Lie

One lie was unforgivable. Before leaving home, I promised my daughter I would call her every day. Despite my tears and pleas about not breaking another promise to her, they refused to allow me to call her for 10 days.

There was no empathy extended for my then, four-year-old daughter’s, fragile condition.

Instead, a WS called my parents and reported my daily progress. My parents were being fed bullshit and had zero clues.

Because they believed they were speaking with a licensed therapist. They didn’t question what they were told. Praying and hopeful for my recovery.

Progressive Medicine of Scientology Rehab

The Institute for Progressive Medicine is the doctor facility. It sells supplements. and L. Ron Hubbard materials. Students transport through the back doors of the building, (emergency exits).

I arrived coming off of heroin and my last shot was around twenty-four hours prior and my body was wrestling dope sick collapse. Every muscle in my body was aching to fall into a slump. Valium and Subutex were prescribed.

Medicine Man

The man in charge of dispensing meds, mostly, hid in his room. His demeanor is abrasive and insensitive. Most of my time at Murrieta and the first parts of Huntington Beach are a blur to me.

The valium dosage prescribed had me in a near comatose state. One day my withdrawal specialist came into my room to wake me.

Concerned because it was four o’clock in the afternoon and I’d turned in at eight o’clock p.m. the night before! I couldn’t wake up!

There was no medical staff monitoring my vital signs or heroin withdrawal during my entire stay at Narconon’s Scientology rehab scam.

Misinformed Medicine

That was my second day withdrawing from over five years of excessive narcotic use. Death was absolutely a possibility. Despite being told that it was not. Narconon trains its staff to educate the students with inadequate drug information.

Repeatedly informed that people don’t die from heroin withdrawal. Elaborating only alcohol and benzo withdrawal kills. But that is absolutely not true. Additionally, as an intern, I unknowingly helped facilitate that lie.

Criminal negligence is only beginning to scratch the surface of Narconon’s many crimes. Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Narconon due to Scientology, and people dying in their care.

Drug-Free Withdrawal at Scientology Rehab

A ranch, (about a mile from the center) in Warner Springs and the Huntington house is used for the withdrawal at Scientology rehab. The house is a retro-seventies mansion hidden among mansions not far from Sunset beach.

An additional fee is collected to complete drug-free withdrawal in Huntington. Phone, television, and caffeine privileges are revoked. A personal chef will whip up nearly anything you would like to eat.

Students typically spend a week or two, in this first phase of programming.

It’s an introductory stage to drug bombs, light objectives, and assists. Three common practices of Scientology.

Drug Bombs

A drug bomb references a concoction of vitamins mixed into an orange drink. And its required consumption is three to four times, daily. Urination is unpleasant, as it smells precisely as it does, ingesting it.

Cal-Mag

Cal-Mag is Scientology’s miracle elixir. Aimed to alleviate soreness in your bones and joints. And it’s absolutely repulsive. Essentially, it’s calcium and magnesium with a vinegar base.

Nothing else I have ever put into my body has caused such a frightening visceral urgency to use the bathroom. And the magnitude of the explosive outcome remains unmatched.

Ways to dispose of Cal-Mag includes watering the plants, tossing it quickly over the fence, and taking it into the bathroom with me to dump down the drain.

To learn more about the dangerous amounts of vitamins in the drug bombs and more, Read 9 Reasons Scientology Violates Patient Rights.

Light Objectives

Light objectives are Scientology drills. Run for the purpose of bringing a person into the present time. And they are part of the initial stages of indoctrination.

Five or six different light objectives cycle through relentlessly. These drills run for a minimum of 15-20 minutes each.

Once in the present time, you’re pressured to originate a cognition. Cognition is also known as the end phenomena (EP) in Scientology. It’s meant to be a statement of consciousness.

End Phenomena

Or an, “I realize” statement that proposes you’ve experienced a mental breakthrough. In my case, (and several cases by consensus of my peers) it was a statement of realization.

Manufactured to encompass what I thought they expected me to say. I would say anything so that I could stop doing them.

Until you achieve the EP that is demanded from the objective, it runs relentlessly. However, if you attain the EP immediately, the objective is still performed for its minimum duration. Denouncing the legitimacy of their purpose from the beginning.

Light Objectives Dialogue

Withdrawal Specialist (WS): We are going to practice an exercise to help pull you out of your head by bringing you into the present time. Begin session: Look around here and tell me what is really real to you?

ME: What do you mean? It’s like you are speaking another language sometimes. I’m not in my head. How is this going to help me not stick a needle full of heroin into my arm? I feel like death. I don’t understand why I can’t rest. I’ve been up for the last three months of my life. This is fucking torture. Why won’t you let me sleep? WS: I understand that you’re exhausted. I was exactly where you are ninety-days ago. Seriously, I thought the same things that you are thinking right now. Like, what the fuck is this? But this program has saved my life and I am here to help you through this. I understand you have reservations about these objectives. Let’s run one for fifteen minutes and you’ll gain understanding. Okay. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you? ME: My reg told me that I could call my daughter every day! I’m letting her down with each day that passes. I want to talk to my daughter. You know what’s not really real to me? Anything that came out of my Reg’s mouth.

Light Objectives Handling

WS: I understand you’re angry. My reg lied to me too. But think about where you are now. Would you have gotten on a plane? Or would you be back home killing yourself with heroin if it wasn’t for the reg? You have your daughter to think about. Let’s run the objective for fifteen minutes and then take a break. Okay? ME: My reg didn’t get me on the plane. I begged my family to find me a good rehab. If you would just let me sleep so that I could focus. I’ll do everything you ask of me but I can’t keep my eyes open. I’m still drugged. Don’t I have a choice? WS: I understand you’re tired! I’m sorry. Let’s see if we can get a nap approved when we get back! But until you complete these objectives and are cleared for the center, you will not be able to talk to your daughter. You don’t want to disappoint her. Come on, let’s run it. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you?

Light Objectives Compliance

ME: (Eye roll followed by forced compliance) Everything is real! Literally, everything around me is real. Besides maybe those fake tans at five o’clock. WS: (Laughter) followed by an acknowledgment– Good. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you. ME: I don’t know. The trees.

WS: Good. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you. ME: The birds on the fence. WS: Good. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you. ME: The blue in the sky. WS: Good. Look around here and tell me what is really real to you. ME: Everything is really real to me. For the first time in a long time, I am seeing the world through sober eyes. WS: Good. End phenomena, (End of Process).

You perform these idiosyncrasies recurrently. For a minimum of 15-20 minutes. Have you witnessed an addict actively in withdrawals grasp? It’s brutally unforgiving. Take a moment to walk through this experience in the shoes of the addict.

A Walk in the Addict’s Shoes

Admitting I have a problem and desperately need help. I’m dying for it. Quite literally with every shot of crystal and dope. Perceiving this is rock bottom and my final chance. I beg my parents for help.

Bruised, beaten, broken, and defeated, and barely escaping the clutches of death. I’ve found the courage and strength to get on an airplane and leave every who and what I knew. Including my four-year-old daughter.

To onlookers, I am visually motionless. But inside, I’m tormented. Imagining myself clawing at my skin and pulling at my hair to break free from my prison. Grinding my teeth until my jaw aches to break free from its clench.

Heroin Withdrawal

Speaking from the experience of heroin withdrawal, it’s a literal hell on earth. Despite indescribable fatigue, I fight my mind to sleep. Experiencing intense cravings that torment it into a frenzy.

Manipulating me into doing anything to satisfy the unbearable hunger of my drug of choice, (DOC) heroin. I’ll commit unspeakable acts to satisfy her insatiable thirst.

My body wrestling violently to keep me awake. Convulsing with spontaneous movements all night long.

Agonizing pain jolting me awake, each time my elbow involuntarily bangs into the wall. Constant tossing and turning are inescapable. Every nerve in my body tickles with tormenting tremors.

It’s similar to the feeling of your limbs tingling when they’re asleep. But it’s all at once and relentlessly constant. Exhausting myself to tears, as I kick and stretch to shake these restless legs off.

By morning my sheets are on the floor and soaked by my cold sweats. Buckets of perspiration are emitting foul chemical smells. Polluting the air with its putrid stench and drenching the mattress beneath me.

Several weeks of these symptoms ensue. And there is zero medical staff monitoring me.

The Bottom Line

Every addict seeking treatment becomes a practicing Scientologist at Narconon’s Scientology rehab. Taught that drug addiction is our condition. The twelve-step model isn’t introduced, and moreover, it’s denounced.

Additionally, drug addiction is taught as a choice and not a disease. Reiterated, it’s your condition that you’ve put yourself in.

Additionally, you swallow a concoction of vitamins and minerals that cause your body to exorcize them quickly. And with brutal force. Sometimes with little to no warning. People shit their pants.

Questions about the programming are never answered. Under the pretense of remaining in the present time. Furthermore, interns have been brainwashed with handling techniques and are adamant in their use.

Assists

Three Scientology rehab assists exist. Adding insult to injury. Because massage therapy is not a daily part of the drug-free withdrawal process. In fact, no licensed therapists are available.

Many students, like myself, have legitimate pain from life’s circumstances. Car accidents, LNI claims, and surgeries are common heroin beginner stories. Prescription medications were overprescribed and opioid dependency grew into heroin addiction.

Eventually, escalating into heroin and methadone addictions that spiral out of control. But the pain is real and it still exists. Amplified by the excruciating pains and illness of drug withdrawal.

Nerve Assist

The nerve assist is practiced and assumed to straighten joints and the spine. It involves a lot of stroking of the body in cycles of three.

First, your spine is attacked with this odd two-finger penetration and pulling down towards your buttocks. Then your limbs are gripped firmly and pulled in repetitive strokes of three.

Forty-five minutes to an hour was the required running time. An hour of flipping over, every two-minutes, to have these stroking techniques performed is awkward.

Between nausea and diarrhea associated with opioid withdrawal, there are many times students excuse themselves from the table. The video below demonstrates the nerve assist.

THIS IS A NERVE ASSIST NOT THE TOUCH ASSIST

Touch Assist

A touch assist is one of the most uncomfortable situations I’ve experienced in my lifetime.

You lay down and have your entire body prodded by the penetration of a stranger’s finger. After the contact, the command is delivered. And you’re required to acknowledge it.

The command is, “Feel my finger?” And it drills for forty-five minutes to an hour. This assist presumes to put your injured body back into communication with itself.

Touch Assist Dialogue

WS: Feel my finger? ME: Yes. WS: Good. Feel my finger? ME: Yes. WS: Good. Feel my finger? ME: Yes. WS: Good. Feel my finger? ME: Yes. My headache is gone. I realize my body is communicating more effectively. Thank you. WS: Great! End Phenomena (End of process).

An hour-long of feeling a finger pushing into your body is odd. But being required to acknowledge the poking is distressing for me. Awkward and violated, are a couple of the emotions that bubble to the surface.

Triggered Responses

As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, it is traumatic. Never having the ability to discuss my childhood abuse prior. I was promised an opportunity at Narconon.

Instead, I was met with odd practices. They stirred up undealt with emotion that poured out in unhealthy ways. Including sexual insinuations and promiscuous behavior.

Precariously ill. Sober, and attempting to make sense of it alone is less than unfavorable.

It too supposes to put your body back into communication with the injured part or illness. And runs for 45 minutes to an hour. It involves hands cupping multiple parts of the body, avoiding breasts and genitalia.

Body Com Dialogue

WS: Feel my hands? ME: Yes. WS: Good. Feel my hands? ME: Yes. WS: Good. Feel my hands? ME: Yes. WS: Good. WS: Good. Feel my hands? ME: Yes. My shoulder feels much better. Thank you. I realize I have been carrying some stress there. WS: Great! End phenomena, (End of process).

Assists Aftermath

When every muscle in your body aches, experiencing any of these practices performed in lieu of a licensed massage devastates. Dealing with twinges in your back and not having professional assistance with the pain is awful.

Having someone hands so close to providing relief to your agony is cruel. Can you imagine it? Tension and knots in your neck and shoulders. Severe muscles spasms shocking your body.

Furthermore, constant headaches pounding with no caffeine or ibuprofen allowed for relief. It’s brutal.

Mental Health Failures of Scientology Rehab

Many drug addicts are survivors of sexual abuse. Feeling a stranger’s hands performing weird cupping is insensitive. Having to acknowledge the command, “Feel my hands,” is unpleasant.

On top of sexual abuse, several addicts suffer severe body image issues. Being self-conscious of your body and having a stranger cupping your body all over, stirs anxiety.

Trauma and abuse are common underlying issues for drug addiction. A few students were struggling with eating disorders.

Anxiety, PTSD, and panic attacks are a common reality for others. There are zero regards to mental health. Refusal of participating in the program is not an option.

The Paperwork

Every light objective and assist has paperwork attached to it. By the time your program is complete, two large folders of data will be reported on you. Data that advises applying L. Ron Hubbard’s tech is successful in curing your drug addiction.

Yes. Narconon actually advises that their program cures drug addiction. It’s absurd.

Paperwork including chits, knowledge reports, and success stories are also, housed in the folders. Success stories are stories Narconon forces you to write down in order to move into the next stage of your programming.

Inaccurate Documentation

Multiple interns forged my paperwork. Asserting that we ran objectives and assists that we barely ran. Furthermore, many originated cognitions, (realization statements) on my behalf.

As an intern, I forged the paperwork submitted on all of the students I put through withdrawal.

If the staff was in earshot, we’d pretend to do light objectives and I opted to massage my withdrawal students as an intern instead of insulting them with assists.

Under the condition that they had to communicate the scripted dialogue if someone was around. It was the only legitimate thing I could do to ease their suffering. So, I did it.

Intake Paperwork

Immediately after arriving in Huntington Beach you’re forced to complete your intake paperwork. I’m not talking about a couple of signatures in a few minutes. The process takes at least an hour. But honestly, I think it is much longer.

However, I was heavily medicated on valium and can’t accurately recall the duration. Sleep was forbidden (except at night) and I was exhausted with fatigue. My eyes rolling continuously into the back of my head.

Heavily sedated and exhausted, I begged my withdrawal specialist to sleep. Unable to focus on anything she was attempting to do with me. She insisted on making me walk.

While walking down the busy highway, I caused her to walk off the sidewalk. Because I was incapable of walking a straight line, and multiple times. Concerned, she made my request for sleep.

I was eavesdropping and she voiced concern and anger at my current condition. She acknowledged I was sedated and insisted that I needed to rest.

Her request was denied. And I was forced to do my intake paperwork. Apologetically, she expressed her disgust. But there was nothing more she could do.

Coerced Signatures

Still half-conscious from the valium, I’m powerless to recall what the paperwork entailed. However, I do remember signing what felt like a tax return packet worth of documents.

Additionally, I remember being asked if I was an undercover reporter. It was so out of place that I drew attention to the question. My WS laughed with me at the implication’s absurdity.

I mean who the fuck goes to drug rehab undercover, and why?

Of course, I didn’t know then, that it is a Scientology rehab scam. Fighting sleep and slumped over a table, I forged on in hopes of the nap they promised me upon completion.

There may have been a tape recorder in the room too. And no, I’m not joking.

But I attest to the fact that I have no recollection of what I said, or signed that day. After I signed, I had one hour to nap before mandated walking and running more light objectives ensued.

The Withdrawal Ranch

The withdrawal ranch is where the student’s who don’t pay for Huntington Beach do their withdrawal. It’s unisex with a single bathroom. One toilet. One shower. Zero privacy.

Twin-sized beds are made with dingy and (often stained) bedding. Dismal greys and mismatched dusty blues. Cleanliness is minimal. One student found a live bat nestled into the sheets on his bed.

Drab, dark and dreary, best describe the atmosphere. Nothing hangs on the walls. Nothing rests on the tables.

Stained wood darkens the bedrooms. The tiny kitchen gives off a cabin-like ambiance. A ceramic heater that gets terrifyingly hot replaces the nonfunctioning wood stove.

It’s the only buzzing in an otherwise eerily quiet surrounding. An unexplainable constant cold creates a bone-chilling shiver.

Interns in Charge

Interns are responsible for the medical care of these addicts coming down off of a combination of drugs and alcohol. Trained medical personnel don’t exist at any level. At any of the facilities.

One staff member expressed to me that as an intern she was the WS for an alcoholic who nearly died from his delirium tremens, (DT’s)!

It’s nearly twenty-seven miles to Temecula Valley Hospital in case of emergency. However, the doctor they use is ninety-seven miles away in Irvine, CA.

After leaving Huntington, you spend twenty-four-hours at the ranch before moving onto the center.

A WS runs Scientology rehab drills with you. Light objectives, assists, and drug bombs continue on command. There’s nothing at the ranch to engage light objectives.

Longest Twenty-Four

These twenty-four hours are, no exaggeration, the longest night of my life to date and I’ve had two babies!

Constructed with a covered pathway. The ranch’s structure allows for the desert winds to roar and howl. Viciously, swirling around the house. Angry, violent, and screaming to get in.

Immediately followed by nothingness. Suddenly, every hoot of an owl echoes through the dead silence of the rooms. Additionally, every creak in the wood is amplified and the house never settles.

Prior to laying down for the evening, my WS shared paranormal stories about the property. She experienced one of her own and I observed visible terror in her tone and body language as she recalled her truth.

Suddenly, the double doors burst open with a force that knocked the wind right out of my scream! It was sinisterly terrifying, to say the least. At most, I slept for two hours and that is a generous estimation.

The Staff at Scientology Rehab

Staff at the Huntington house are a mixed breed. Interns are undeniably unaware that they’re practicing Scientologists. However, there are some longtime residents there that are practicing.

The staff at the center are all victims of the Church of Scientology. Perhaps one or two Scientologists lurk in back offices.

But mostly, these people came into Narconon believing that they were attending a drug rehabilitation program.

A school for Scientology indoctrination was their unfortunate reality. Mandatory brainwashing is the program. And it’s not an, in addition to twelve-steps, philosophy.

It’s strictly, L. Ron Hubbard’s ideology. Furthermore, all eight books guide you through new levels of conditioning. Fixed programming into their cult.

Completing books for certifications continues into interning and being a staff member. Additionally, staff members must listen to hours of Hubbard’s tapes before achieving their certifications.

Reviews and Interns

After finishing their programming, most people go home and relapse because they received zero drug treatment. They’re allowed to come back on what is known as, a review.

Essentially, a review is strengthening a fraction of the brainwashing, in half of the time. Reinforcing what has already been encoded into their minds. Once their reviews are complete they follow suit and become interns.

Conditioned into believing they owe their lives to Narconon’s Scientology rehab scam. Convinced by their relapses that they can’t stay sober unless they remain in the cult.

And many believe they’re genuinely helping thousands of helpless drug addicts cure their conditions. It’s sad and it’s criminal.

A Dangerous Con

Again, Narconon claims to cure drug addiction! People become stuck programmed to this false belief. And handcuffed to their assigned posts for years.

People I care about are still there. Brainwashed to believe that Narconon isn’t Scientology. They honestly do not know.

Can you imagine? Six years later and they have no idea that they are responsible for operating a Scientology indoctrination school. And, that they are in fact, functioning Scientologists!

Robbed of their minds. And, in their most vulnerable and fragile conditions. It’s frightening and it’s criminal.

Stuck on a mountain in the desert. Forbidden to own vehicles or drive. An ethics officer escorts anyone who leaves the mountain.

You receive your phone back as an intern and it’s your reintroduction to the internet. However, Googling Scientology or Narconon is a known transgression. By that point, you’ve become conditioned not to Google.

Even now, I don’t know why I didn’t. But I knew better. We all did. And we didn’t do it.

Culty Signs

Several culty signs exist but if if you haven’t studied cults, you don’t know what the hell is happening. It is obvious to everyone that it’s not rehab but no one understands what it truly is.

L. Ron Hubbard Defined

LRH is defined as a true humanitarian who accomplished great works. A deep thinker, who taught and wrote many wonderful things prior to conjuring up Scientology.

Narconon, guarantees, it’s based on his humanitarian works alone!

Allegedly, a prisoner from Arizona (William Benitez) read The Way to Happiness, booklet and then formed Narconon’s concept behind bars.

Narconon uses this story to diffuse the Scientology rehab bomb that explodes on rare occasions. Like students blowing. Or students who are pulled from the program by their parents who discovered the deception.

Joking and badmouthing LRH is quickly silenced by staff. And are punishable offenses if ethics feels like enforcing the rule.

Scientology Rehab Hushed

From the moment I arrived in Warner Springs, whispers circulated about Narconon masquerading as a front group for the Church of Scientology. But nobody knows what that really means. Does anyone in a cult realize the implications?

Commanded to keep quiet. I’ve never experienced a group so adamant in denying who they are. Why would a Church deny who they’re and what they’re teaching?

Perverting their truth and intentions. Misrepresenting their qualifications and purpose? Moreover, creating an army of minions who regurgitates the lie after having already undergone the deception themselves? It’s inexcusable and it’s criminal.

Limited Outsiders

On rare occasion, families tour the facility. A stricter code of silence is enforced when outsiders visit the grounds.

Chores are delegated in order to get the center deep-cleaned and presentable. A direct order not to talk about LRH or Scientology is issued and with a stern warning. Cautioning us about privileges being revoked if we violate the order.

Trouble making students, (those unwilling to conform) are chauffeured to the Objectives course room down the street, (to be hidden).

Fridays, are graduation night. Families of graduates do fly in to celebrate sometimes. We operate under the same strict stipulations. Threatened with MEST work if we didn’t comply.

MEST – Matter, Energy, Time, Space

MEST replaces all of your study hours until your punishment is over. Raking leaves, netting pool crud, washing windows, picking up cigarette butts, mopping floors, deep cleaning bathrooms, trimming trees with a handsaw, hanging, and removing Christmas lights.

These are all examples of MEST that I witnessed enforced.

Stories about hard and unnecessary MEST labor spread quickly throughout the center. Such as digging pointless holes and then refilling the holes under the blazing scorch of the hot sun. While not witnessing that abuse, I believe it.

Disparaging Tom Cruise at Scientology Rehab

One of the most startling moments I experienced was badmouthing Tom Cruise. The movie, The Minority Report was playing on the communal tv at the center. A film I have watched at least a dozen times.

A few others and I were discussing our likes and dislike about the film and Mr. Cruise. Before walking off to grab a cup of coffee,

I articulated:

I’ve always loved Tom Cruise. He is one of my favorite actors. And, he is so fucking hot! Ever since, Top Gun. Too bad he went fucking crazy in Scientology.

Within a minute, an ethics officer, (EO) approached me and ushered me into the ethics office. My heart was racing the entire walk. What had I done? Ethics wouldn’t elaborate until behind closed doors.

The EO posted on the wall overlooking the couches in the center had communicated my offense. Via text message. Not knowing what I’d done, I feared what was coming next.

Out of Ethics

I was reprimanded for speaking illegitimately about Tom Cruise! Hello! By my own words, he was one of my favorite actors!

Why was I in trouble for making a remark that my drug rehabilitation center didn’t like about an actor in Hollywood? Does that make sense to you?

Both the EO and I burst into laughter. He completely agreed with the absurdity but was still an EO. Ethics are the enforcers of the rules even when they don’t understand, or agree with them.

If I violated it again, I would be assigned MEST. Extreme measures are imposed to hide the truth about this Scientology rehab scam.

Every time anti-Scientology programming airs a call from Glendale alerts the staff. Immediately, staff races around to the center and surrounding houses to remove the tv cards from the back of the television sets.

Disabling our ability to watch anything. On football Sunday, this doesn’t go over well. Why does an organization go to such extremes to hide who they are? The level of corruption the world is dealing with is overwhelmingly alarming.

The Money in Scientology Rehab

There have been conflicting reports about the actual cost of Narconon’s program. Student’s reported paying different dollar amounts. My parents paid, forty-thousand dollars!

Those charges included the medical detox and Huntington beach. Most students stated their program was thirty-to-thirty-five-thousand dollars without those services.

One ethics officer confessed being on a full scholarship that John Travolta allegedly paid for. No-one volunteered to spend anything less than thirty-thousand.

The Math

With a constant cycle of a hundred bodies floating around the center the math doesn’t add up. At thirty-thousand-dollars per head, that’s three million dollars, minimum per 90-day cycle.

How is the center running out of anything? Why are there people not being fed?

Honestly, the interns experience the worst of it. Instructed their place is in the back of the line. Guaranteeing that they won’t be offered a full plate and will likely eat cereal.

Where Does it Go?

What does that money go towards? That is an outstanding question for the authorities to look into. The extravagance of Murrieta’s mansion and Huntington’s beach, wear off the moment you enter the ranch and center.

Unlike the website, the buildings are unbelievably rundown and dirty. We ran out of food and daily. Hotdogs without buns is not uncommon if you are at the back of the line, and you can forget about a bag of chips.

Coffee, sweetener, and snacks run out weekly. Styrofoam cups, bowls, and plasticware, also run out, nearly every week. Laundry soap is supplied sporadically. Hand soap and paper towels are not supplied to the student rooms or houses.

If you want clean hands or clothes, you order your own soaps on your weekly shopping list.

The Hiring Freeze

Before I left Narconon, there was a situation they call– a hiring freeze. What that means is that they have staff positions, but will they are unpaid until the freeze is lifted.

During the hiring freeze, the staff at the center was not paid. No, seriously. People suddenly stopped receiving paychecks! And for several months.

My conversation with the ethics department about it being illegal wasn’t well received. And there were zero handling techniques to convince me to continue to work for free.

Ultimately, this unlawful practice of not paying employees may have saved me from losing myself to this cult.

I was on a plane home to my then, five-year-old daughter, the very next day. By the Grace of God. Thank you, Jesus.

The Schedule at Scientology Rehab

Whether student, intern, or staff, the schedule is long and rigorous. There are hour breaks for lunch, dinner and an additional hour break at 3:00 p.m. Students also receive a ten-minute break, hourly.

Mondays: 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. Tuesdays: 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. Wednesdays: 9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. Thursdays: 9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m. Fridays: 9:00 a.m.- 5:45 p.m. with required presence at graduations 7:00- 8:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m.- 5:45 p.m. with required presence at graduations 7:00- 8:00 p.m. Saturdays: 9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

9:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. Sundays: 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Sunday classes are optional unless you receive a chit. A chit is written documentation of infractions that are recorded in your student folders. People receive chits for being late, talking back, disrespecting authority, to name a few.

Ethic cycles are imposed for more serious offenses. Including making hooch, smuggling drugs, fighting, and sexual relations (2D flows).

These cycles involve MEST. Also, dishes for the entire center are now your sole responsibility. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Sunshine Summit Lodge

Located in Warner Springs the center is in the middle of the nowhere. Outlying properties in the area are all owned and operated by the Church of Scientology.

Being closely corralled during the initial phases of the brainwashing is crucial. Because it allows for operation under a heavy ethics presence.

A landscaped setting separates the men side from the women. Three rounded, large, concrete stairs cascade into a brick opening where three wooden benches rest. Encouraging congregation.

Beautiful deciduous trees canopy the area. Ornamental birdhouses decorate a few branches in the trees. Rumored to have cameras or microphones in them. Standing five-feet at my tallest, I can neither deny, nor confirm that allegation.

The Center

The lodge, (main building) has the eating and recreational areas. A ping pong table keeps it noisy to the right of three sofas facing a mediocre sized television. Students congregate here after class to play spades, vape, blast loud rap music and feel some kind of normal. EO’s are always present and continuously monitoring.

The pool isn’t heated and it isn’t clean. Seven-months of staying there, I attest to the fact it doesn’t receive regular maintenance. I never saw a professional pool service. People do not swim in it.

Every once in a while, a sauna student will jump into it, realize their mistake, and immediately wash off. While there is a jacuzzi-tub, it wasn’t operating. It never worked.

Central heating blows through the building. An issue forcing students to sleep with the slider doors open. Safety, (at night) is handled by a single EO. He is posted outside of the student rooms.

Falling asleep on that post is not uncommon, depending on the EO. Quarters are confined. One bathroom for multiple people isn’t ideal when coming off of drugs. Even more alarming, one bathroom for everyone actually ingesting their Cal-mag. Disturbing.

The Food

The food is a basic menu that rotates through a few staples. And, it always runs out. Student’s joke that the food intentionally bulks you up and refer to the weight gain as, The Narconon 30.

Scientology Rehab Housing

After book three you move into one of the houses surrounding the main structure. Narconon owned properties. Each unit has at least one staff member and several interns to ensure an ethics presence.

I cannot speak diligently about the conditions of the male houses, but the female house is old and dingy.

One shower for twelve women. I’m not kidding. Hot water exists, only in your memory now.

An old boxed television sits on a retro stand. Seventies yellows, oranges, browns and greens surround you. Bulky, oversized mirrors line the living room. Every morning you crowd around them. Showering rotations begin in the evening.

Feelings are mixed about being in a house full of women and the idea of leaving the center is frightening, at first Within an hour of moving into the house, that quickly fades.

This is the time in your programming when you begin to develop stronger bonds with the people surviving with you. Materials begin to become more cumbersome with the start of book four.

By book six, these women have watched you explode, and erupted with you. Felt your pain, as you’ve wept uncontrollably. Crying right alongside you. Fellow students tend to comfort, but the staff has been influenced not too.

Putting your arms a crying student is discouraged. Because you want them to feel their emotions and hugging shuts them down.

Scientology Rehab Sauna

Disgusting and unsafe are the first two words my mind arrives at concerning the sauna. Hard as they try, ethics can’t keep the sauna’s warning from appearing and reappearing.

Unavoidably, you will hear this slogan. It’s another punishable offense enforced if families are on campus.

Sauna practices include taking up to 5000mg of Niacin before running for 20 minutes. Followed by sweating in a hot box for the better part of five hours. Students weigh in and out every day.

Furthermore, students wash a handful of birdseed down with a cup of oil with a loogie-like consistency. In addition to the daily vitamin and cal-mag requirements. An intern monitors student reactions to the niacin.

Niacin Reactions Include:

Extreme Flushing

Burning

Redness

Itching

Tingling

Narconon alleges that the niacin and sauna combo flushes out all of the drugs you’ve ever done in your life, and their residuals. Including basic medications like ibuprofen.

In fact, they claim that tiny shards of drugs can (and have) actually penetrate and be pulled from beneath your skin.

Fortunately, my body didn’t react to the niacin and I never exceeded a 2500mg dose and was out in 22 days. However, many of my comrades weren’t so lucky. One friend hung in there for a solid 45 days.

The Ethics Department at Scientology Rehab

The ethics department is located in the main building. Primarily, they are the higher authority. Narconon security. But without the nightsticks. Some EO’s receive posts for their day.

Others, (mainly interns) walk around for the sole purpose of spying on student’s conversation. Eavesdropping, to obtain information in order to file Knowledge Reports, (KRs). Essentially, KRs, are documents tattle-tale reports.

The ethics department is notorious for writing KRs. But truthfully, the COS expects submissions from all interns and staff.

The Counselors at Scientology Rehab

Every student is assigned to one of three people in the main office. Called counselors, they counsel your family on your progress. You’re not present for the conversation. But my parents said they sounded upbeat and feedback was always positive.

Your counselor will check in on the progression of your program. But they are not there to counsel, nor qualified, to hold their title. Mine was a nice person with a sympathetic ear. But drug addicts counseling drug addicts is not professional therapy.

Rumors circulate around the facility about the counselors and ethics departments monitoring the student phone calls. It’s believed each of their office phones is paired with one in the booth. I can neither deny, nor confirm this allegation.

However, while working at the front desk, I was instructed to do something suspicious. And I was hushed about it. I believe I tapped into one of the phones in the booth to be listened in on by the head counselor. But I can’t confirm with certainty.

The Phone Time

Each morning after muster, students flock to the reception desk to sign in for their phone times. Ten-to-fifteen-minute time slots, the worksheet would fill up quickly. Phone calls are on designated breaks only.

New students place their phone calls in the counselor’s office under the direct surveillance of their assigned counselor.

Everyone else placed their phone calls in a booth that had three phones, and three stools. An EO posts up directly outside the booth. Holding the door open with his stool and monitoring every word you say.

The Denial of Prescription Medications

Narconon means, no narcotics. If you have a headache, you take salt and potassium tablets. There is absolute, zero tolerance. Numerous students complain about medications, including antidepressants and blood pressure meds, being denied to them.

An incident occurred at the center when a student was denied his antipsychotic. His roommate came into the room and found him sitting in the top of the closet. He’d fashioned a wire coat hanger into a weapon.

Threatening to stab anyone that came near him. Narconon got rid of the student and deemed his personality antisocial. The truth was he was denied his medication and went nuts.

The Atmosphere of Scientology Rehab

When you find yourself, essentially abducted into a situation that you did not fucking sign up for, crazy things ensue. There are a variety of ages. However, most students are in their twenties to early thirties.

Many of us regressed into more juvenile behaviors and emotions. Teenage years is the common beginning for the majority of drug-users. It is a high school type environment most of the time. I was deplorable.

With a profane mouth, promiscuous tone, and a major attitude. I walked around like a bitch with her tail in the air. Putting it all out and begging for it. I’m not proud of my behavior. Several others behaved as such. They’re not proud either. I’m not sure what happened.

I guess we all woke up sober, withdrawing, and in Scientology camp. Resulting in a daily show at the circus. Not a single student was aware of the LRH factor. All showing up to camp duped like the rest of us.

The Victims of Scientology Rehab

The biggest victims of the Scientology rehab scam are the drug addicts dying to get help. I don’t know how to get you to understand the magnitude of devastation this cult imposes on recovery.

Addicts aren’t equipped with the necessary tools to remain clean and sober. No counseling or understanding regarding underlying issues is addressed.

The entire purpose of Narconon is to recruit new members into the cult of Scientology.

Every book is another level of indoctrination designed to keep you from leaving there. Additionally, anyone who has paid Narconon for drug rehab is a victim. As well as all of Scientology’s donors who actually believe they are funding drug recovery. And with great success. It’s sickening.

Narconon Deaths

A quick Google search reveals multiple deaths linked to Narconon and the COS. Perhaps, most known are the seven deaths at Narconon’s Arrowhead since 2005.

However, most recently (2019), a jury has awarded $11 million dollars over the death of John Cunningham, a 58-year-old retired Boeing employee from Washington State.

But unless you’re part of the inside circle, you don’t hear about the other deaths that Narconon (COS) is responsible for. The poor souls who sought out drug rehab for a second chance in life, only to be pulled into this con.

The ones who go home, relapse, and die because they didn’t receive any drug rehabilitation. So many people I attended my program have died and their families deserve compensation.

Rest in Peace

Each one of these beautiful souls stays with me and I pray their families will know and experience love and peace. God bless every one of them. You’re not forgotten.

Lillian Coogan

Jesse Kitco

Matthew Irvine

Brett Breunig

Brittney Holland

Jacob Heider

Frank Libretta

Thank you for reading and your attention to this matter. Scientology is a dangerous cult who is deceptively abducting people under the false pretense of drug rehabilitation. It’s criminal. Please help spread the word by blessing me with a social share.

If you have pictures that you can provide me for Narconon Fresh Start in Warner Springs, (including the Sea-org board) please email me at thatcrazygirlblogger@gmail.com to negotiate terms.

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