April 12th, 2008 by jgold454

There are many treatment programs available.  The best-known programs to help recovering addicts and alcoholics are Alcoholics Anonymous and Narc-Anon, which follows the same traditions of the older AA group.  A group with ties to the Church of Scientology called Narconon confuses the issue slightly.

However, there is another group with a similar sounding name to Narcanon that is somewhat controversial.  Founded by Scientology founder and science fiction author, L. Ron Hubbard, Narconon claims a high rate of success.   According to some critics of the group, it instills the basic principles of the Church of Scientology in the people it claims to be helping.

While Narconon claims a slightly higher success rate than many other similar groups, it is not enough to make the group seem suspicious by itself.  The similarity of Narconon’s name to the more respected Narc-Anon addiction treatment program seems to be designed to bring in the unwary and gain more potential converts to Scientology.   If the program works and helps get people off of drugs, it should not be discounted, but the similarity of the names to a twelve-step program means that Narconon should be approached carefully when considering addiction treatment options.

This may be singling out the group unfairly, and the intent of Narconon may be to legitimately help people overcome their addictions, but much of the group’s goals, shying away from the use of psychiatry and drugs even when used for medicinal purposes may make people who are not members of the Church of Scientology look elsewhere for substance abuse treatment.

Because Narconon is a relatively small group specializing in addiction treatment, it is unlikely that a person will wonder into a meeting of the group with ties to Scientology by mistake.    The other, larger group is sponsored by many churches, along with AA meetings.  In smaller towns, the Narc-Anon and AA addiction treatment meeting  programs may be combined.