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Govt money for Scientology's drug programme (NZ)

sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
This article has been kindly copied into another thread (NZ Org dismantled or whatever it was called) by Randomx (thanking you :)) but for future searching purposes I felt it should have its own thread.

Govt money for Scientology's drug programme
19.02.2012
Kirsty Johnston
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/6443289/Drugs-education-link-to-Scien

A controversial Church of Scientology drug-awareness programme has received government funding to spread its unorthodox views through schools and community groups.

In the past six months, drug-free ambassadors linked to the church have circulated 130,000 drug education booklets around New Zealand, paid for in part by the Department of Internal Affairs' Community Organisations Grant Scheme.

The ambassadors claim at least 18 community groups – including their "partners" the Maori Wardens – plus at least seven high schools, endorse and use the materials.

Advice offered in the pamphlets is based on research by Scientology's controversial founder, LRon Hubbard, who did not believe in medical drugs or psychiatry but instead in purging oneself of painful experiences to gain immortality.

Ross Bell, executive director of the New Zealand Drug Foundation, warned that the group's information was flawed pseudo-science and could prove harmful to youth.

"This kind of quackery should not be in our schools – we are talking about young people's lives," he said.

"Drug and alcohol issues are complex and therefore we need well-qualified, proper, evidence-based support advice and information."

Bell said Scientology's views on mental health were not based on science, and had been discredited "time and time again" in the countries they worked in.

Other critics, including former Scientologists, say the drug-free ambassadors are also a front group aimed at recruitment which does not openly disclose its ties to the church.

The group, which has various aliases, has also come under fire overseas, including in Australia where its links to the government were described as "worrying".

However, the Church of Scientology New Zealand says its anti-drug group is not aimed at recruitment, instead wanting only to arm young people with factual information about drugs.

"We promote good educational materials on the drugs in use on the streets that people of all ages can relate to and decide for themselves whether or not to start using," said Mike Ferriss, head of Scientology in New Zealand.

He said the booklets were based partially on Hubbard's teachings, plus using local statistics and information.

Only some of the money came from government, Ferriss said. The International Association of Scientologists also made a grant. "As a group we believe that something effective can be done about any problem and it does not have to cost a lot of money."

Several groups of Maori Wardens, which are mainly volunteer organisations funded by the taxpayer, have partnered with the drug-free ambassadors.

One of the group's leaders, Rita Peters, is a warden, a Scientologist and an ambassador. She spends much of her time handing out the booklets in places like Otahuhu and Mangere in South Auckland.

Mangere ward leader Thomas Henry said he talked with the group after its members consistently approached him with their pamphlets. He said drugs and alcohol were a problem in South Auckland and there was a need for the material.

"For us, it was free information. We don't have money to pay for these resources so we were thankful that we were able to have a relationship with them," Henry said.

Figures show that during 2011 the Church of Scientology New Zealand, a registered charity, listed its income for 2010 as $1.2 million. Drug-Free Ambassadors, also a registered charity, had an income of approximately $6700, of which $6500 was grants.

Green MP Kevin Hague said any funding given to a group that was a front for the church should be stopped.

"In the case of someone who is struggling with drugs, they are very vulnerable. So their exploitation by the church for their own ends is despicable."

King's College principal Bradley Fenner took up an invitation to speak at an event run by the drug-free ambassadors last year, only to find out afterward it was linked to Scientology. "I was disappointed. In general we would not align ourselves with a group like that," he said.

The drug-free ambassadors programme was launched by one of Scientologist actor John Travolta, more than 10 years ago. In 2003, actor Tom Cruise donated $1500 to the Auckland branch.

- © Fairfax NZ News
 
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sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
Re: Not big news but worth a read

Hi ya Gerry.

I had started a thread on this. Great minds and all that.

I'll beg one of the moderators to merge the threads or whatever it is they do.

I hope all is well with you. :biggrin:
 

Type4_PTS

Diamond Invictus SP
"Green MP Kevin Hague said any funding given to a group that was a front for the church should be stopped.

"In the case of someone who is struggling with drugs, they are very vulnerable. So their exploitation by the church for their own ends is despicable."

I like this guy! :happydance:
 

freethinker

Sponsor
I watched a video from the Attorney General's website and those that have done the program swear by it.

I did the purif and never experienced results like these guys are having, is there something sneaky going on here?

Also, is Vincent D'Onofrio a Scientologist? I always found his charachter on Law and Order to be strange at best.
This isn't in NZ, it's in Utah, but I thought it was pertinent. It's from last year, not sure of the current status.

Here's the article:

http://m.heraldextra.com/news/local...c9-97d2-28db48c2c6cb.html?oCampaign=hottopics


Here's the website for Utah Meth Cops:

http://www.utah-detox.org/detoxification.html

Utah Attorney General:

http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/methcops.html
 

freethinker

Sponsor
On the utah Meth Cops site they make the claim that the detoxification program they use by L Ron Hubbard, is used Internationaly and that studies and findings have been published by:

Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

Wolrd Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer

US Environmental Protection Agency

I went to the websites of each of these organizations and put L Ron Hubbards Detoxification Study in their search engines and came up with zero results on all three. I also did a search just on the word Detoxification and none of the results were even related to Meth Amphetamine or its chemical components.

I call BS and fraud to elicit funds.

Another interesting thing is that i tried to copy the names of the above organizations for my search and the site prevented me from copying by saying it was copyrighted material.

Very strange so I took a picture of the webs site home page with my camera in case it disappeared.

Anyone wanna research this more? There could be fraud. I would bet on it.

Here is a result from one of the sites above: http://nlquery.epa.gov/epasearch/ep...te=epafiles_default.xsl&filter=samplefilt.hts
This isn't in NZ, it's in Utah, but I thought it was pertinent. It's from last year, not sure of the current status.

Here's the article:

http://m.heraldextra.com/news/local...c9-97d2-28db48c2c6cb.html?oCampaign=hottopics


Here's the website for Utah Meth Cops:

http://www.utah-detox.org/detoxification.html

Utah Attorney General:

http://attorneygeneral.utah.gov/methcops.html
 

sallydannce

Gold Meritorious Patron
"
Green MP Kevin Hague said any funding given to a group that was a front for the church should be stopped.

"In the case of someone who is struggling with drugs, they are very vulnerable. So their exploitation by the church for their own ends is despicable."

I like this guy! :happydance:

Me too! The thing is even the exploitation is deeply hidden. Behind screens of PR and fancy wording, locating the depth of the exploitation in the Hubbard labyrinth is beyond the capacity - or perhaps willingness - of most decent people.

These "front groups" are not, imho "front" at all. They are integral to the over-all aims of scientology. Which is, all fancy language and mile and miles and miles of clap-trap (my fav word for today) aside, Hubbard wanted to rule the world.

Grandiosity in action. That's what these so-called "front" groups are. To make Hubbard's name look good so that the "tech" of scientology can penetrate society and be "the main system used to run the world".

Sophisticated subterfuge!
 

FoTi

Crusader
Has Narconon morphed and changed it's name to the Meth Cops? Would be a sneaky way to get around the bad publicity Narconon has been getting. If it works in Utah....they will probably promote it to other states.
 

Lermanet_com

Gold Meritorious Patron
Freethinker: Sounds like FRAUD to me...

from black's law dictionary: (I have it on THIS page)

Fraud: An intentional perversion of the truth for the purpose of inducing another in reliance upon it to part with some valuable thing or to surrender a legal right; a false representation of a matter of fact, whether by words ot conduct, by false or misleading allegations, or by concealment of that which should have been disclosed, which deceives and is intended to deceive another so that he shall act upon it to his legal inquiry; anything calculated to deceive, whether by a single act or combination, or by suppression of truth, or suggestion of what is false, whether it be by direct falsehood or innuendo, by speech or silence, word of mouth, or look or gesture; fraud comprises all acts, omissions, and concealments involving a branch of legal or equitable duty and resulting in damage to another.
 

gerry

Patron with Honors
Re: Not big news but worth a read

Hi ya Gerry.

I had started a thread on this. Great minds and all that.

I'll beg one of the moderators to merge the threads or whatever it is they do.

I hope all is well with you. :biggrin:

Thanks Sally,
I hadn't seen the other thread, thanks for merging it.

and all very well with me

:happydance: :happydance: :happydance:
 

randomx

Patron with Honors
Anti-drug campaign under fire Sunday 26th February 2012


An anti-drug group run by the Church of Scientology will be investigated to ensure money granted to it by the government was not misspent.

Revelations that the drug-free ambassadors were given taxpayer cash to publish drug awareness pamphlets based on Scientology teachings, have also sparked a review by the Department of Internal Affairs.

The group, and its sister organisation Drug Free Aotearoa, received around $10,000 from various Community Organisation Grants Schemes committees during 2011.

Drug education experts say the information in the pamphlets funded by the grants is not based on science, and should not be given government money or disseminated by schools.

Scientology teachings are widely regarded as controversial. Founder L Ron Hubbard did not believe in psychiatric drugs or psychiatry.

However, the Church of Scientology said the ambassadors' programme gave out good information about the dangers of illicit drugs.

Despite the church's stance, the Department of Internal Affairs, which oversees the grants scheme, is to review its procedures so local committees have adequate information when making decisions.

"Groups have to account for the use of a grant and the department will be checking [the ambassador's] accountability information to ensure the funding was used for the purpose for which it was granted and not for religious purposes," a spokesman said.

Community grants provide funding to non-profit community organisations that deliver social and community services such as food banks, services to youth and grief counselling.

While this included services provided by religious groups, grants were not available to fund the promotion of religious views or objectives, the department said.

The spokesman would not say if the department would check the material printed with the help of the grants for suitability.

Green MP Kevin Hague, who last week called for the grants to the drug-free ambassadors to cease, said anyone applying for a grant should have to be open about their affiliations.

"It wouldn't be so much of an issue if the Church of Scientology was open that it was behind things. But the use of other names that don't give the public or the funders a clue about what the groups really are is a problem."

Hague said it was more important the Department of Internal Affairs made safeguards for the future rather than worrying about this particular set of grants.

New Zealand's Scientology head, Mike Ferriss, said the groups given money by the grants would not have misused it.
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Ferriss wanted it to be known that one of the church's critics, the New Zealand Drug Foundation, only supported a mental health approach to drug rehab and education.

"They could be seen as a psychiatric front group lobbying the government and attacking faith-based drug rehab which has a good record of getting people off drugs."

New Zealand Drug Foundation chief executive Ross Bell said the foundation supported evidence and scientific-based mental health and addiction services.





http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/6481062/Anti-drug-campaign-under-fire
 

Infinite

Troublesome Internet Fringe Dweller
. . . New Zealand's Scientology head, Mike Ferriss, said the groups given money by the grants would not have misused it.

Ferriss wanted it to be known that one of the church's critics, the New Zealand Drug Foundation, only supported a mental health approach to drug rehab and education.

"They could be seen as a psychiatric front group lobbying the government and attacking faith-based drug rehab which has a good record of getting people off drugs."

New Zealand Drug Foundation chief executive Ross Bell said the foundation supported evidence and scientific-based mental health and addiction services."

Faith based? But, but but . . .
 
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