Narconon of Georgia uses the dangerous and useless sauna detoxification system made up by L. Ron Hubbard.
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."
Narconon International shares the Los Angeles address and suite number of ABLE (Association for Better Living and Education). ABLE is a well known Scientology front organization. The words "Scientology" and "Dianetics" are carefully avoided in all Narconon promotional literature, and Narconon attempts to present itself as something separate from Scientology and Dianetics, but the curriculum gives the game away. The Narconon "New Life" program is basically an 8 part introduction to Scientology.
According to the newspaper Detroit News, Scientology Inc leader L. Ron Hubbard created Narconon and ran it to recruit former addicts into the mob. Courses taught were virtually identical to those offered by the Scientology business and included material packaged as the "Communications Course", the "Study Course", and the "Objectives Course".
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."
In the wake of the revelations, a 1980 prison study concluded that "graduates of the Narconon program do not do as well as our [prison] population in general."
Funding for the Narconon program in the prison system was terminated.
(Detroit News, 11 Feb 1980 and St. Petersburg Times, 28 Dec 1981)
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