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Scientologists and Drinking

aegerprimo

Summa Cum Laude
There is an interesting blog post at J.P. Capitalist new blog – Scientology Daily Digest – an anecdote by B. B. Broeker,” a longtime commenter on Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker. He ran into a Scientologist at Tampa airport who was leaving town. THAT is odd in itself, but even stranger was the fact that she was in a bar, drinking.

Here is a link to the post with the anecdote –
http://www.johnpcapitalist.com/2013/11/analytical-techniques-the-power-of-anecdotes/

I would like to discuss the drinking because I got some interesting responses to my comment. There are many interesting responses to the anecdote regarding the drinking, but mine is one of the only ones that points out that Scientologists just don’t drink (or take drugs). During the time I was involved with Scientology, if you were actively on the Bridge, receiving auditing or a student, you did not drink because it would cause you to be “unsessionable” or “unstudentable”. I walked away from Scientology in the late 1990’s. Have things changed since then?

If you read the anecdote, one of the outpoints about the woman in the story is that she was in a bar drinking. Not a normal circumstance for a Scientologist.

Here is the link to my comment and it is quoted below -
http://www.johnpcapitalist.com/2013...es-the-power-of-anecdotes/#comment-1122085097

In this anecdote, one thing really stands out to me – the drinking.

In general Scientologists don’t drink. Just like they don’t take drugs, not even OTC drugs, they don’t drink. Drinking makes a Scientologist “unsessionable” – in other words, not able to receive auditing. Scientologists moving up the bridge and going in session on a regular basis do not drink. Also, this woman was drinking A LOT. 4-5 glasses of wine for most people would be quite a buzz, and for a Scientologist who rarely drinks, put them under the table. For an alcoholic,4-5 glasses of wine might be barely getting started on a binge. Was her speech slurred? I wonder.

I agree, why would a dedicated Scientologist leave town when “the most important moment in Scientology history” is about to take place? Why would they (staff at Flag) let her leave town, when it is known (on the fringes of the internet) that the Co$ is having difficulties packing the event tent with people…

I also agree that this woman probably is clueless (or was clueless until recently) about her family’s finances. After (my first) spouse and I left the Sea Org, we became public Scientologists and continued up our Bridge. I was stupid and naive and trusting, and found out after the fact that credit cards (in my name) were maxed, our house was in foreclosure, our cars were going to be repossessed, we owed the IRS taxes for 4+ years. I found this out when my spouse came home from Flag and announced to me about $25K put on (my) American Express gold card to the IAS. I had the credit but not the hounding regges. I was a lot better at saying NO. When I found out about all these financial disasters, I asked for a divorce. I went from fantastic credit to the worst credit a person can have. It took me years to recover.

It seems like something VERY bad happened to that women, and being an indoctrinated, longtime Scientologist, she was probably feeling it was HER fault. Maybe she found out about finances gone bad, as I had, and said to herself - I AM OUTTA HERE, or maybe she got kicked out because she got upset about it. But when BBB started talking to her in the bar, she was not going to say anything bad about Scientology or what might’ve just happened in her life, divorce, leaving before a big Scientology celebration, pounding down the glasses of wine.

It is the tendency of an alcoholic, even one who has “recovered” or is 'recovering”, that when something REALLY BAD happens to them, they return to drinking. (We already know that Narconon does not have proven techniques that help with alcoholism/addiction like AA does.)

If I had met that women in a – Bar – struck up a conversation with her, and she announced she was a – Scientologist – she would’ve seen a look of shock on my face.
 

La La Lou Lou

Crusader
I probably drank more as a scientologist than I did before. I was staff why would I need to be sessionable. Study, not too often, stats always came first. We got through loads of beer at Christmas and SO day, and sometimes I would knock a few back at other times too. I probably would have drank a lot more if we actually were paid every now and then. It would probably do the average SO member the world of good to have a drink or two, let their hair down gain some Dutch courage and tell the prison guards to sod off and just walk out. Booze has a wonderful tendency to loosen the tongue, probably why it seems to be so frowned upon these days.
 

FlunkYou

Patron with Honors
I was never staff (except one summer as kid), but drank/drink socially, and I knew lots of public that drank socially as well. Some drank/drink hard, like all week long too, but stop cold turkey when on lines.

I guess the ones higher on the bridge like the OTVII's I didn't see drinking (maybe 1 drink). But they have to put on a bigger front for the rest of the group.
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
There are many interesting responses to the anecdote regarding the drinking, but mine is one of the only ones that points out that Scientologists just don’t drink (or take drugs).


It depends.

First of all, in Scientology, you can't equate drinking and drugs. Taking drugs (especially street drugs, like pot and coke) is forbidden.

Drinking...isn't. It's kind of a gray area.

(And smoking cigarettes is almost condoned...but that's not what this post is about.)

Like Lou pointed out, it depends on whether or not the person has to be sessionable. If you're a staff member who never gets auditing, then...

When I was in the SO, I was married to someone in Estates. A lot of Estates guys, at least at that time, were under the radar.

They didn't have to keep the same schedules as the rest of us. A lot of them worked nights and slept during the day. Most of them didn't get a whole lot of auditing. They didn't have to go to base wide musters. They didn't have to get meter checks. They didn't have to do a lot of things. As long as they cooked and made sure the elevators were working, that there was hot water and that ASI got their gold faucets when they demanded them, they were pretty much left alone.

Some of them drank.

My husband was one of them.

I didn't realize the extent of it at the time, because I was getting auditing and I had to keep a normal schedule and I played by the rules. He worked nights and slept during the day. I really didn't know what went on at 2:00 in the morning when he was "working".

I really don't want to go over all of it, because he eventually left and it didn't end well.

Just want to say one more thing. I was doing a promotional thing about Narconon when I was on staff. I was being given a tour of Narconon by Jeannie Trahant. We went by the courseroom. She pointed out a guy who was a Sea Org member from Flag Estates who had 52 pc folders and had been in the SO for 20 years or so.

It had finally been unearthed that he was an alcoholic, so he got sent to Narconon to dry out.

So, yeah.

There are Scientologists who drink. :sad:
 

clamicide

Gold Meritorious Patron
Another of Scio's dirty little secrets. Can't tell you how many staff were in trouble for becoming totally alcoholic. When I joined, I'd already quit the party scene of high school. I wasn't drinking at all really. As a scio, I thought it was 'evil'. I bought sherry to baste my meatloaves and such and red wine for making sauces, but never occurred to me to drink at all.

Purif was the first thing that fucked with this, believe it or not. Everybody "in the box" was recalling such great memories from drugs and stuff--never had tried coke or heroin before I became a Scio.... (and that's a long story that I probably should put into my personal story thread "Chicken Joe"). I also ended up hanging with a bunch of Scios (one was a roomie that had THE liquor cabinet from hell) that really drank their asses off... shocker to me. Did that for a while, then decided to "get my ethics in"...

My last stint on staff? Well, I was on TTC, and didn't drink, because it was 'not studentable', but when I freaking hit my internship---all bets were off. Later, I got the word that internship was like course or something and I was PISSED. Seriously... there were days where being fucked up seemed to be the last line of defense from keeping me from killing myself.

I remember the day where I got called in and was finally getting my "out-int" handled... as the C/S who was delivering it was going back to Flag or whatever--- her foot was up on the table (seriously); she was flubbing commands and looking in the red vols while delivering... and I just pretty much decided I'd be "blown out" to get it over with. OMG... I had AMAZING cogs and finished my End of Endless.... thing was... I got drunk off my ass the night before because of the insanity of being on staff and had been told I had the day off (not like I ever got it before--knew I'd be called in or brought physically in, but justified the drinks by being 'told' I had he day off). I was totally in the moment of it being the "greatest good" to get through this session and get shite handled. Seriously.

It's very interesting to me. I've gone over this time and time again with so many counselors and stuff, and for me, it really comes down to self-medicating. It's different than being an addict. It would have been easier for me to grab onto that label, but I'm realizing that's not where I am. Life is good-- meh on alcohol, but I love a good glass of wine or scotch... got poured a tiny bit of red wine the other day, and the taste was enough to satisfy and I turned down another pour... it doesn't fit the AA model. When I have gone over the line, it's been when I'm really PTSD or whatever.

BUT, I have seen SO many folks in the cult drinking a LOT. It's all covered up.

I only tried "hard drugs" after my Purif (after attesting to Clear), and I've mentioned it here before, but I'll mention it again since it's buried at this point--I called Narconon... and I was SO ashamed because I was Clear, and I was completely assured about how many drug reverts they knew who were Clear and even OT--hell even after OT IV.... I was also pretty much told they really didn't have anything to offer, since I'd already completed with my auditing and training everything the program offered....

Yeah. Those folks who recover with Narconon recover because they substitute their addiction to drugs with an addiction to Scientology.
 
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Lulu Belle

Moonbat
It depends.

First of all, in Scientology, you can't equate drinking and drugs. Taking drugs (especially street drugs, like pot and coke) is forbidden.

Drinking...isn't. It's kind of a gray area.

(And smoking cigarettes is almost condoned...but that's not what this post is about.)

Like Lou pointed out, it depends on whether or not the person has to be sessionable. If you're a staff member who never gets auditing, then...

When I was in the SO, I was married to someone in Estates. A lot of Estates guys, at least at that time, were under the radar.

They didn't have to keep the same schedules as the rest of us. A lot of them worked nights and slept during the day. Most of them didn't get a whole lot of auditing. They didn't have to go to base wide musters. They didn't have to get meter checks. They didn't have to do a lot of things. As long as they cooked and made sure the elevators were working, that there was hot water and that ASI got their gold faucets when they demanded them, they were pretty much left alone.

Some of them drank.

My husband was one of them.

I didn't realize the extent of it at the time, because I was getting auditing and I had to keep a normal schedule and I played by the rules. He worked nights and slept during the day. I really didn't know what went on at 2:00 in the morning when he was "working".

I really don't want to go over all of it, because he eventually left and it didn't end well.

Just want to say one more thing. I was doing a promotional thing about Narconon when I was on staff. I was being given a tour of Narconon by Jeannie Trahant. We went by the courseroom. She pointed out a guy who was a Sea Org member from Flag Estates who had 52 pc folders and had been in the SO for 20 years or so.

It had finally been unearthed that he was an alcoholic, so he got sent to Narconon to dry out.

So, yeah.

There are Scientologists who drink. :sad:



I googled my ex-husband about a year ago and found his obituary.

I tracked down people who knew him the last few years before he died.

Long story short...

...he drank himself to death.


Well ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty got her special diet and got her room with no blue in it (Bitty didn't like blue) and the hot water worked.

So who gave a fuck about the estates guy?
 
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Panda Termint

Cabal Of One
I went from rampaging Rock Musician to Teetotal for 19 years once I started auditing on Upper Levels. I never took drugs even to the extent of having dental work done sans anesthetic, my Dentist thought I was crazy! I was completely dry for 19 years until I decided to relearn how to drink alcohol. I mentioned it once and Face offered to give me lessons! :)
 

clamicide

Gold Meritorious Patron
I googled my ex-husband about a year ago and found his obituary.

I tracked down people who knew him the last few years before he died.

Long story short...

...he drank himself to death.


Well ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty got her special diet and got her room with no blue in it (Bitty didn't like blue) and the hot water worked.

So who gave a fuck about the estate guy?

omg... it sucks. Nobody gave a fuck about the estates guy. This is why I still keep coming back to this board.
 

Lulu Belle

Moonbat
omg... it sucks. Nobody gave a fuck about the estates guy. This is why I still keep coming back to this board.


Thank you.

That made me cry.

He really was a good guy.

Someone who knew him, actually the person who got him into Scientology, told me a couple of years ago that she thinks he may have been sexually molested as a child. Someone else she knew who was a lot like him finally confessed that to her.

Looking back, that "indicates".

And no one helped him.

And as long as he made sure ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty's room wasn't blue, who gave a fuck.
 

phenomanon

Canyon
Another of Scio's dirty little secrets. Can't tell you how many staff were in trouble for becoming totally alcoholic. When I joined, I'd already quit the party scene of high school. I wasn't drinking at all really. As a scio, I thought it was 'evil'. I bought sherry to baste my meatloaves and such and red wine for making sauces, but never occurred to me to drink at all.

Purif was the first thing that fucked with this, believe it or not. Everybody "in the box" was recalling such great memories from drugs and stuff--never had tried coke or heroin before I became a Scio.... (and that's a long story that I probably should put into my personal story thread "Chicken Joe"). I also ended up hanging with a bunch of Scios (one was a roomie that had THE liquor cabinet from hell) that really drank their asses off... shocker to me. Did that for a while, then decided to "get my ethics in"...

My last stint on staff? Well, I was on TTC, and didn't drink, because it was 'not studentable', but when I freaking hit my internship---all bets were off. Later, I got the word that internship was like course or something and I was PISSED. Seriously... there were days where being fucked up seemed to be the last line of defense from keeping me from killing myself.

I remember the day where I got called in and was finally getting my "out-int" handled... as the C/S who was delivering it was going back to Flag or whatever--- her foot was up on the table (seriously); she was flubbing commands and looking in the red vols while delivering... and I just pretty much decided I'd be "blown out" to get it over with. OMG... I had AMAZING cogs and finished my End of Endless.... thing was... I got drunk off my ass the night before because of the insanity of being on staff. I was totally in the moment of it being the "greatest good" to get through this session and get shite handled. Seriously.

It's very interesting to me. I've gone over this time and time again with so many counselors and stuff, and for me, it really comes down to self-medicating. It's different than being an addict. It would have been easier for me to grab onto that label, but I'm realizing that's not where I am. Life is good-- meh on alcohol, but I love a good glass of wine or scotch... got poured a tiny bit of red wine the other day, and the taste was enough to satisfy and I turned down another pour... it doesn't fit the AA model. When I have gone over the line, it's been when I'm really PTSD or whatever.

BUT, I have seen SO many folks in the cult drinking a LOT. It's all covered up.

I only tried "hard drugs" after my Purif (after attesting to Clear), and I've mentioned it here before, but I'll mention it again since it's buried at this point--I called Narconon... and I was SO ashamed because I was Clear, and I was completely assured about how many drug reverts they knew who were Clear and even OT--hell even after OT IV.... I was also pretty much told they really didn't have anything to offer, since I'd already completed with my auditing and training everything the program offered....

Yeah. Those folks who recover with Narconon recover because they substitute their addiction to drugs with an addiction to Scientology.

Yah. Scientology is Spiritual Opium.

phenomanon
 

La La Lou Lou

Crusader
I googled my ex-husband about a year ago and found his obituary.

I tracked down people who knew him the last few years before he died.

Long story short...

...he drank himself to death.


Well ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty got her special diet and got her room with no blue in it (Bitty didn't like blue) and the hot water worked.

So who gave a fuck about the estate guy?

No one gave a flying fuck about the estates orgs, that's why they were safe from scrutiny. There were certain orgs and posts that no one seemed to notice. Bit like Lord and Lady Thingly-Whatsit-Doodah talking in front of the maid as if she wasn't there, and her running back to give all the gossip to the rest of the staff. If I was in the SO I would get a post in the Estates org, so easy to just walk out, most of them wear real clothes, easy to just disappear, if you are invisible.
 

JustSheila

Crusader
I googled my ex-husband about a year ago and found his obituary.

I tracked down people who knew him the last few years before he died.

Long story short...

...he drank himself to death.

Well ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty got her special diet and got her room with no blue in it (Bitty didn't like blue) and the hot water worked.

So who gave a fuck about the estate guy?

I'm sorry to hear this, Lulu Belle. :bigcry: Friggin' Scientology. :angry:
 

clamicide

Gold Meritorious Patron
Thank you.

That made me cry.

He really was a good guy.

Someone who knew him, actually the person who got him into Scientology, told me a couple of years ago that she thinks he may have been sexually molested as a child. Someone else she knew who was a lot like him finally confessed that to her.

Looking back, that "indicates".

And no one helped him.

And as long as he made sure ASI got their gold faucets and Bitty's room wasn't blue, who gave a fuck.

:bighug::bighug:

So incredibly fucked up. One of the most evil things that still haunts me from being an auditor, is that almost every pc (and I'm also talking about reading folders, not just who I audited) brings up sexual abuse as a missed withhold. And THAT, per the tech, is how it is run. "How else did you justify it?" It often came up as an earlier similar for masturbation.

Seriously... I bury this stuff sometimes, but it does crop up-- it's stuff like this that just makes me feel I do need to stop by here and never forget the horror. It's not DM, not management--this is stuff run off of the tapes in LRH's words. I'm thinking of a particular pc I had... and he'd gotten off some "disgusting" (not really IMO) O/Ws, and then he went E/S over and over where he was a victim of abuse... and I went omfg... and I did try to ask and figure out how he deemed it was an overt--- and per the tech and training he was convinced--yep, he was totally responsible for his condition, and should have/could have whatever (or pulled it in), and so it was an overt. Fuck me.
 

Shanester

Patron
At Delphi in Oregon, staff members are forbidden to drink alcohol within 24 hours of being on post. I was 17 years old when I joined staff so it was never an issue for me, but I knew of staff (and faculty) who broke this rule. It must have really sucked for a lot of them, because they were not supposed to drink during the week, and then, when they were supposed to go to Portland CC or Foundation to study or audit over the weekend, they were also not supposed to drink, so, in effect, they were never supposed to drink at all.

I'm pretty sure that's why some of them drank anyway. I'm only aware of one staff member who had a drinking problem that became visible and known.

After my Comm Ev, on my Sec Check when I routed out, not writing Knowledge Reports on the people whom I saw drinking was one of the things that came up. That I should get slammed for failing to tattle on someone enjoying a glass of wine with their dinner was something that made me so happy to be rid of that place once and for all.

By and large, however, the Delphian School is pretty much a teetotal operation.
 

In present time

Gold Meritorious Patron
I admit, I haven't read all the comments on this thread.
But when I met my long ago best friend ever (she is still in) she was getting a lot of auditing.
Why? Because as we say in Texas, she had "boo coo" money.
So, she would invite me over to her place after work.
And she would drink a tonne of beer, and cut herself off at 7PM.
Because the policy said, "no drinking 24 hours before session."

Somehow, I didn't think this meant, get as shitfaced as you can but cut it out 24 hours before, down to the mark.
But, it worked for her.
SERIOUSLY, she would set her alarm clock. The closer to seven, the harder the gulps became.


My guess is, this woman had nothing to lose if she wasn't meant to be sessionable the next evening.
And obviously she wasn't.
 

Happy Days

Silver Meritorious Patron
Nothing wrong with a 'chemical release' that's what it's called... drinking alcohol....

Drinking while in the cult was a release from the stress and duress of being connected.

You should have seen members get pissed when going to fundraising events here in ACT ... absolutely hammered ... I think it had something to do with mutual out ruds on regging and the copious amounts of alcohol available to loosen the crowd up :biggrin:

Also when in the CoS ... some of those mighty OT's said that they faked going to the dentist so they could have a drink while on OTVII cause they couldn't solo audit for a few days after the so called treatment :)

I was never a drug user and never smoked and didn't really start having a regular drink until after I joined the cult... go figure...

So here's to ya .... :cheers:
 

Panda Termint

Cabal Of One
Lol, I'll never forget the NYE gig I did in The Rocks where a bunch of SO guys and gals turned up to celebrate after the CofS NYE Event. I put on free beer for 'em and one of my fave peeps, Birgitt, knocked back 5 in 5 minutes! I was amazed! :p
 

Out-Ethics

Patron Meritorious
Great question since I manage a liquor store. :booze:

Drinking and partying in orgs were far more commonplace prior to DM taking over in the 80s. I noticed towards the end of the 70s there was a shift on the amount of drinking/partying at least in my org. The last big party New Years resulted HCO assigning lowers like left and right like they were handing out candy. From the mid 80s on I noticed a far more puritanical approach by the orgs on drinking. However very interesting when the SO have their SO Day the reports I would get is SO members getting plastered which I can totally understand.

Regarding this woman I have come to the conclusion long ago that going up the bridge did not equate to being ethical or making logical decisions. What going up the bridge does do to one is makes you blind. This woman despite being connected to Scientology is contemplating getting a divorce yet the Scientology promotes family unit. This has her going out of town despite what is suppose to be the biggest event ever. She is getting drunk and talking to a complete stranger about very personal issues. She also has no clue as to why the outside world hates Scientology yet she promotes Narconnon while at a bar. She is practically blind yet she will tell you how well she sees life. For those who haven't figure out there is something very wrong with Scientology this is the typical mindset. They need the internet, they need....:help2:
 

In present time

Gold Meritorious Patron
Nothing wrong with a 'chemical release' that's what it's called... drinking alcohol....

Drinking while in the cult was a release from the stress and duress of being connected.

You should have seen members get pissed when going to fundraising events here in ACT ... absolutely hammered ... I think it had something to do with mutual out ruds on regging and the copious amounts of alcohol available to loosen the crowd up :biggrin:

Also when in the CoS ... some of those mighty OT's said that they faked going to the dentist so they could have a drink while on OTVII cause they couldn't solo audit for a few days after the so called treatment :)

I was never a drug user and never smoked and didn't really start having a regular drink until after I joined the cult... go figure...

So here's to ya .... :cheers:

interesting... so, i thought there was just a 24 hour rule?
i did solo, but i didn't drink (probably couldn't afford it), but were/are the rules different?
 

Panda Termint

Cabal Of One
On Solo NOTs it was 24 hours for alcohol and local anesthetics. Anything heavier, such as a General Anesthetic, was a week or more, IIRC.
 
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