Study questions drug-treatment results

The Narconon programme relies on many unproven, and some comprehensively disproved, theories originated by its founder, L. Ron Hubbard. It has very little credibility with the medical profession as a whole and references to Hubbard's detoxification methods are almost entirely absent from medical journals.

Despite Narconon's claim that it is "The World's Most Successful Drug Rehab", it has a surprisingly small circle of supporters. Its supporters generally fall into three distinct categories: individual, corporate/governmental, and scientific/medical. When one looks closely at the groups and individuals supporting L. Ron Hubbard's drug rehabilitation and "purification" methods, one invariably finds the same names cropping up repeatedly, often citing each other to support their arguments. What is more, many of those involved have links to Scientology and Narconon which are often not disclosed, thus giving a misleading appearance of independence.

Only about fifteen doctors are on record as having supported Narconon, of whom at least five are known to be Scientologists. It is not clear how they manage to reconcile Hubbard's claims with known medical science, or in some instances with fundamental physical laws.

According to Patty Pienadz, former Executive Director Narconon Connecticut, "I can emphatically and truthfully state that they only people that completed the Narconon program and 'stayed off drugs' were those that became Scientologists. It was always one of those never written about but completely understood by Narconon staff, that unless the person became a Scientologist and did the Scientology Drug Rundown, then there was really little chance that they guy would permanently stay off drugs. The unwritten final step of the Narconon program was to acknowledge you were a Scientologist. At that point, you were considered to be rehabilitated, but up until you acknowledged that you wanted to be a Scientologist and study Scientology it was considered that you probably revert." (http://www.xenu-directory.net/accounts/pienia... )

See: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/

The Scientology-run drug treatment program, known as Narconon (not to be confused with Narcotics Anonymous), has been falsely inflating its success percentage for years. It is based on pseudoscientific quackery developed by L. Ron Hubbard and it also works to plant the seeds of Scientology jargon and philosophy in its patients.

Taxpayer dollars are MUCH better spent elsewhere.

Per you report they have a success rate of more than 70%. That's higher than anywhere else. How did that get missed?

As someone who has done the Purification Program, which is what Second Chance is based on, I can state for a fact that this program is a total scam.

It infuriates me that taxpayers are being robbed by $cientology yet again.

great...another religion that wants welfare dollars...this makes as much sense as the stupid drug war

Jeff S wrote:

Per you report they have a success rate of more than 70%. That's higher than anywhere else. How did that get missed?

Try 7% not 70%.

That 7% was "Cured" by joining the church of scientology - not by the Second Chance front group.

"It does work," Rep. Thomas Anderson, R-Albuquerque, said. "Maybe I can't demonstrate it with numbers and scientific data.""

Oh, my gosh. NO, IT DOES NOT WORK! They inflate their success rates and demand "success" stories from inmates in order to complete the program.

If your lawmakers are dumb enough to accept unsubstantiated testimonials from brainwashed products of Scientology style mental processing...

You need new lawmakers.

This SCAM does NOT work. It is nothing more than a front group for Scientology.
There success rate has ALWAYS been inflated. Residents need to write letters,email,protest,scream,s hout,go to town mettings and do what ever you have to do to tell your legislators that your tax dollars will no longer support this FARCE!

I would suggest that your readers might be interested in the following web pages

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/Narconon/
http://stop-narconon.org/

This page has a great deal of information on the program used by Second Chance and promoted by
Scientology.

There is nothing new in scientology promoting false data on its programs success rates.

This program is not based on science nor is it medically advisable. Scientology uses front groups
like second chance to make money and to recruit new members.

The money spent on this program would be much better spent on programs that actually do work.

Yduz

"Within 100 days of graduation 8.6 percent of them committed new crimes". Wow, more than 90% did NOT! That is unprecedented for any program we have in Canada.

The program is running successfully in Asia and the US is doing great to support "Second Chance"! Here is some information to put this in perspective!

The most recent United Nations World Crime Survey found that in four years the rate of assault increased by 14%, embezzlement by 29%, rape by 21% and homicide by 45%. Efforts at crime prevention have not been successful.

At 6.8 per 100,000 population, the current homicide rate is 40% higher than in 1950. The United States has the highest per capita prison rate in the world with 715 people in prison per 100,000 of the population. Recidivism (ex-prisoners returning to prison after committing more crimes) is as high at 80% in some areas. The annual cost of crime in the United States alone exceeds over $128 billion.

The report of THE COMMISSION ON SAFETY AND ABUSE IN AMERICA’S PRISONS has been released in June 2006 and gives this information:

There are nearly 5,000 prisons and jails in the United States. America incarcerates more people and a higher rate than any other country in the world. In the decade from 1994 to 2004, the US prison population expanded by more than half a million people. The daily count in U.S. prisons has surpassed 2.2 million. Over a year, more than 13.5 million people spend time in jail or in prison. 95 percent of them eventually return to their communities. Between 1995 and 2000, the growth rate of prisoners housed in high-security segregation increased 40%, far higher than the growth rate of the overall prison population. High-security segregated housing can be twice as expensive as other forms of confinement. Approximately 750,000 men and woman work in correctional facilities dealing with prisoners. The annual budget for corrections is over 60 billions dollars.

http://www.criminon.org

Markus Andras wrote:

<quoted text>
Try 7% not 70%.
That 7% was "Cured" by joining the church of scientology - not by the Second Chance front group.

Pardon to correct your math. But 100% Second Chance graduates minus 9% recidivism equals a 91% success rate! You seem to be obsessed too much with this Scientology "background". But we are talking here about a program under strict supervision of prison guards and legislators. Don't you think the faintest smell of religious content would turn off those enthusiastic supporters? I do. No, these prisoners have a right to a Second Change and to return to society as valuable and supporting members. Second Chance obviously provides that.

http://www.secondchancecenters.com/ :

The Second Chance Center (SCC) is a nationwide, secure, long-term, multi-jurisdictional rehabilitation facility providing alternative sentencing for the judiciary that serves county, state, federal and tribal jurisdictions. The SCC provides a cost effective alternative to jail/prison; full-time 6-8 month rehabilitation in a secure environment. Typically, defendants who are facing a six (6) months to a year sentence, probation/parole violators or those in an early release/transition program are referred to the facility by the judiciary.

The offender participates in a rigorous full-time rehabilitation program in a medium security facility. The SCC provides a non-medical, social rehabilitation model based on education and nutrition. Using a cognitive-behavioral approach that improves communication and learning skills as well as greatly enhances self-esteem, the program helps the offender positively deal with his substance abuse issues as well as gives him tools to help him lead his life without reentering the criminal justice system. Contracted Social Workers assist the ex-offenders reintegration process.

Davy, where's the essence of your statement?

The study is now online:
http://isr.unm.edu/cara/pdf/SecondChanceCente...

What's that about "one week on the program" shit? Not really longterm amirite?

http://www.secondchancecenters.com/

The SCC program is a long-term, social rehabilitation model delivered in a secure, therapeutic enviroment designed to focus the offender on rehabilitation. The program utilizes a cognitive-behavioral therapy approach, emphasizing positive change through the development of pro-social attitudes such as:

* self control
* critical reasoning
* development of moral reasoning skills
* development of life skills
* self-esteem
* problem solving
* coping resources

are you struggling for coherence? Is it difficult for you?

Obvious troll is obvious wrote:

Davy, where's the essence of your statement?
The study is now online:
http://isr.unm.edu/cara/pdf/SecondChanceCente...

Obvious troll is obvious wrote:

Davy, where's the essence of your statement?
The study is now online:
http://isr.unm.edu/cara/pdf/SecondChanceCente...

Most telling! The program was not even started in full or how do you read the last paragraph of this "study":
"Based upon this study the Second Chance Program at the time this study was conducted was not operating the way it was designed to be operating. This report is useful for noting how the program has been implemented to date and what changes need to be made to implement the program more closely following Criminon and Narconon methods and policies put forth by the Second Chance Center. Only after the program has been fully implemented can a study be conducted to study its effectiveness."

hey xenu boy in chicago...dont try to hide under different names...you wacky scientologists are so tricky!!!!!!

Interesting, to say the least. When will the autorities step in and fully expose the con in NarCONon?

I have made several YouTube videos on the subject of Scientology's fake "drug rehab" scam; I have also educated several New Mexico politicians on the subject. Sadly, New Mexico politicians would much rather appear "anti-drug abuse" than intelligent: the narCONon scam is known to be both dangerous and worthless.

The Oklahoma State Board of Mental Health found that "No scientifically well-controlled independent, long-term outcome studies were found that directly and clearly establish the effectiveness of the Narconon program for the treatment of chemical dependency and the more credible evidence establishes Narconon's program is not effective."

Michigan Corrections Department psychologist John Hand called Narconon "so misleading as to be termed a 'con.'" Hand said, "They are phony, a front for the 'Church' of Scientology. We found out in Michigan that most of the money that we were paying Narconon was laundered back into the 'Church' of Scientology."

Physicians Against Health Care Fraud called narCONon a fraud and warned people to avoid the program. Former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop warned people to avoid narCONon.

It should also be noted that several victims of narCONon have died apparently from the treatment. Why, then, are New Mexicans being subjected to it?