Scientology’s sneaky front groups keep doing their thing — and some are succeeding
We often tell you that no matter how challenging things have been for Scientology in recent years, it never gives up. You can always count on Scientology’s sneaky front groups, for instance, to keep up their efforts to insinuate themselves no matter how many times they’ve been exposed as tentacles of the church.
Let’s look at a few recent examples.
On Thursday, Scientology issued a press release celebrating Narconon Mexico’s 26th anniversary with the opening of a new drug rehab in Pedro Escobedo, about 125 miles northwest of Mexico City in the state of Querétaro.
About a decade ago, after Narconon clinics ran into serious problems in the US with several patient deaths and dozens of lawsuits, Scientology leader David Miscavige shifted strategies. He let the Narconon network in the US shrink (from more than 20 at one point, to only five now) while directing expansion in places like Mexico, Taiwan, and parts of Europe.
And as part of that shift overseas, Narconon in Mexico has developed a much stronger tie to government than it ever had in the US.
One of the speakers at the grand opening of the new clinic, for example, was Francisco Boneta, Commissioner Against Addiction for the state of Quintana Roo, who presented Narconon Mexico with a plaque from the Quintana Roo State Commission of Mental Health and Addiction.
Our correspondent who helps us out with news in Mexico emphasized this point to us, that Scientology is doing a much better job there establishing relationships with government than it is in the US. “Narconon is part of the single-payer system in Mexico, so this is unsurprising,” they tell us.
They sent us documents showing how the Mexican government is reimbursing Narconon for treatments. And the state of Sonora, meanwhile, features the Narconon brochure on its official state website.
“Narconon is basically running mental healthcare in outlying Mexican states,” our correspondent says, which is extremely troubling.
But that’s Mexico, right? Narconon has retreated in the US, and it’s not sneaking its way into being considered a legitimate form of care, right?
Well, in our second example, we have the startling news from Narconon Louisiana, which claims that it has now qualified to be in the Blue Cross/Blue Shield network.
Hey Guys! We have exciting news!! We got approved and are now in network with Blue Cross Blue Shield PPO!!!
If you or a loved one are in need of help we urge you to reach out to us. If you have contacted us in the past and we were not able to take your insurance, please call us back so we can help.
Sure, why not have insurance cover the dangerous cold-turkey rehab regimen dreamed up by a pill-poppin’ science fiction writer. We’re old enough to remember when Narconon Louisiana was started up in order to fill the void caused when Narconon Atlanta closed. Why? Because it had been caught red-handed lying to a judge in order to get a court-ordered patient assigned to it from Florida, who then died when his addiction, which Narconon was supposed to be treating, raged out of control because drugs were everywhere at the facility’s housing, which it wasn’t licensed to have. A raid on the place for credit card fraud shut it down for good.
But hey, now you can send your drug-addicted loved ones for L. Ron Hubbard’s quack therapy in Louisiana, and even get it covered by Blue Cross.
Killer.
We have one more example of a Scientology front group doing its thing, endlessly trying to spread L. Ron Hubbard’s prejudices and paranoia. One of the most industrious of these groups is Citizens Commission on Human Rights. CCHR is Scientology’s unhinged anti-psychiatry arm, which operates on the lunatic notion that it will succeed in destroying the professional mental health field and replace it with Hubbard’s claptrap. (And, astonishingly, it is nearing its goal of eliminating ECT therapy for hundreds of thousands of Americans and many more around the rest of the world by targeting two small device manufacturers with frivolous litigation, which we revealed in a recent Daily Beast piece.)
One thing CCHR does is hold endless seminars and traveling exhibitions railing against psychiatry and blaming it for the Holocaust, etc. These exhibitions go on ceaselessly and literally around the world, so the fact that another of these hate-the-psychs road shows is being held in Antwerp later this month is not news in the slightest.
However, the reaction by Antwerp media is. Like we said, CCHR has been putting on these things constantly and forever, so we’re not sure why this one triggered a media response, but it got one. Gazet van Antwerpen consulted local psychiatrists about CCHR and its scheduled exhibition.
An exhibition on “psychiatry abuses” will be on display in Antwerp at the end of September. The organizer is linked to Scientology. Psychiatrists warn that the expo is spreading fake news. “This could prompt patients to stop their therapy.”
Flemish psychiatrists are watching the arrival of the exhibition with dismay. “The organization has dogmatic ideas that we find difficult to correct”, says Kirsten Catthoor, chair of the Flemish Association for Psychiatry. “They also spread disinformation. It is far from true that electroshock therapy claims two victims per week. It is about the safest treatment available, with fewer side effects compared to antidepressants, for example. CCHR also talks about locking people up, but there are few closed wards in Flanders. Too little even for all the forced admissions ordered by the public prosecutor”…
Geert Dom, chairman of the European umbrella organization EPA, which represents 78,000 psychiatrists, has previously had to deal with CCHR. This spring, members of the organization disrupted a conference in Budapest, Hungary. “Demonstrators continuously blocked access to our conference. They asked for consultation, and we received a letter from them, but consultation did not take place.”
Dom warns against CCHR’s campaigns. “They can increase the stigma of psychiatric care and thus prevent people from seeking care, or even make patients decide to stop their therapy or medication, with all the dangerous consequences that entails”…
Dom wonders what the purpose of the exhibition is. “Scientology offers packages that cost a lot of money, and using them can mean cutting off contact with regular care. It makes some see characteristics of a cult. The extent to which Scientology is trying to grow with actions like this is an open question. Fortunately, I cannot recall any files of patients who stopped their therapy after coming into contact with Scientology. But unfortunately it is difficult to know how many patients do not seek care.”
We heard from a number of our European readers who forwarded us the article. And we agree, it’s startling to see this kind of coverage. And again, not because CCHR is putting on one of its shows. But because the media actually did something about it.
If only that happened in this country.
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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history
Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea
Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time
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“SINCE 1966. BEST RESULTS OVER THE LONG TERM.
The Narconon program is based on the discoveries and writings of L. Ron Hubbard. Mr Hubbard was a philanthropist whose works include discoveries in the fields of education, mental health, criminal reform, and drug rehabilitation. He started his investigation on drugs during the 60s and 70s when use of recreational drugs had reached epidemic proportions.”
My sister lives in Mexico. This is what they are being told on that flyer.
I was a CCHR celebrity commissioner and did a lot of pro bono performances for them. I was a true believer in the work they did. The solutions to mental health problems are not easy. And psychiatry and therapy have been evolving to become more effective. I do not support the huge corporate drug companies. There is a place for medications and modern therapies have made many breakthroughs.
Where as Scientology is therapy so inconsistent and based on outright lies it is a danger to all who participate. And it will not change in the face of its failures. A success for any Scientology social betterment group is a further fracturing of society.