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Scientologists targeting alcoholic Aborigines with 'killer' therapy

skollie

Silver Meritorious Patron
http://www.news.com.au/national/sci...h-killer-therapy/story-e6frfkvr-1225956836170

THE Church of Scientology is targeting alcohol-dependent Aborigines with a "drug bomb" therapy which the church has been warned could kill people with kidney problems.

The Scientologists this week responded to a warning by the Northern Territory Health Department and stopped distributing literature which promotes a dangerous drug detoxification therapy.

The group has been moving through remote Australia on an indigenous recruitment drive.

Volunteer Scientology minister Kevin Chapman has with others been operating from a tent in a public park in the middle of Tennant Creek, handing out a pamphlet called Answers To Drugs.

The church has taken out full-page local newspaper advertisements which use the Aboriginal flag and have photos of Aboriginal people - who appear to be sitting in the Todd River near Alice Springs - holding up Scientology brochures.

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The church claims its detoxification program developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard uses "exact technology" and is the only successful drug and alcohol dependency treatment in the world.

But the clinical nurse manager at the Tennant Creek Hospital this week advised the NT Government that the detoxification regime was dangerous and "potentially fatal" to renal patients. Renal disease is common among Aborigines in the NT.

The pamphlet gives a formula for a high dose "drug bomb" vitamin supplement to supposedly break drug dependency, which it warns can corrode the stomach and cause ulcers. It advises to take aluminium hydroxide tablets which gives adverse nervous system side-effects - to ease any upset.

The pamphlet also gives a recipe for a calcium-magnesium drink to alleviate withdrawal symptoms. The Health Department believes the whole regimen could be deadly to dialysis patients by causing hypophosphataemia - low phosphate levels in already weakened people.

The hospital approached Mr Chapman and requested he not distribute the pamphlets or conduct detoxification therapy.

National Scientology president Vicki Dunstan said her church had responded to complaints. Even though the pamphlets contained the formulas, she said church protocol was that people should obtain medical advice first.

"No person undergoing dialysis would ever be permitted to undertake such a program," Ms Dunstan.

"As soon as this matter was drawn to our attention, the person who had handed out the booklets was contacted and informed that they needed to cease handing them out and they are now being collected back and any person who had a booklet is being informed that they should not use the calcium-magnesium drink without medical approval."

NT Health Minister Kon Vatskalis said the Scientology brochures were " utterly irresponsible".
 

Sindy

Crusader
Arrogant and imbecilic. For an organization that is fanatically obsessed with Public Relations, or rather, public perception (as public relations connotes some sort of ethical caring attitude) they sure seem to botch that on a regular basis. It seems the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing.
 

NeverMe

Patron
"Volunteer Scientology minister Kevin Chapman has with others been operating from a tent in a public park in the middle of Tennant Creek"

DESPERATE MUCH????? :laugh:
 

Happy Days

Silver Meritorious Patron
Kevin Chapman was the FR at ACT Org for a number of years, he's a veteran Sea Org member for about 20 years. Nice enough bloke but a cultie through and through. He originally came from the Land of the Long White Cloud....

Utterly irresponsible about sums it up... :thumbsup:

Maybe a communication to the Therapeutic Drug Administration regarding the CoS and it's practice of having public take copious amount of vitamins during the Purification and while having auditing without a fully qualified doctor or natural therapist to access and oversee the administration of vitamins.

All because Hubbard said so does not make him the authority of vitamin intake and the harm it can do. He had no qualifications and yet he was apparently the oracle in this area ... :omg: What were we thinking :duh:

Since leaving the cult I take no vitamins and I've been feeling so much more alive with more energy. I believe that vitamin intake can overwork your liver and kidneys causing your body to become very sluggish. Taking vitamins could cause damage and we don't know what are the long term effects...
 

mate

Patron Meritorious
Aha! So this is the proselytising path followed by the scientology VMs. The VMs give their "assists" voluntarily, of course, and then urge the recipients onto Narconon lines, whose function is not only to extract as much $s as they can, but then coerce them, the victims into becoming scientologists. In retrospect, this is quite obvious but I had missed the significance of the emergency workers after "9 11" doing Narconon's program. Talk about scavengers, VMs are the new hyenas of modern society.

David.
 

AlphOhm

Traveler of time/space
Aha! So this is the proselytising path followed by the scientology VMs. The VMs give their "assists" voluntarily, of course, and then urge the recipients onto Narconon lines, whose function is not only to extract as much $s as they can, but then coerce them, the victims into becoming scientologists. In retrospect, this is quite obvious but I had missed the significance of the emergency workers after "9 11" doing Narconon's program. Talk about scavengers, VMs are the new hyenas of modern society.

David.

IMO the ethics level of hyenas might be higher.
 

namaste

Silver Meritorious Patron
tomato.jpg
 

secretiveoldfag

Silver Meritorious Patron
CANBERRA, Nov. 20 (Xinhua) -- The Northern Territory (NT) Health Department of Australia on Saturday warned Church of Scientology that a drug detoxification therapy, promoted to Aborigines in Australia could kill the people with kidney problems.

The Scientologists has been moving through remote Australia and targeting alcohol-dependent Aborigines with a "drug bomb" therapy, in a move to recruit indigenous members.

The church claimed its detoxification program developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard uses exact technology and is the only successful drug and alcohol dependency treatment in the world.
However, the group has been warned that the drug they promoted to the indigenous could be dangerous and "potentially fatal" to renal patients.

Renal disease is common among Aborigines in the NT.

National Scientology president Vicki Dunstan said her church had responded to complaints.
Even though the pamphlets contained the formulas, church protocol was that people should obtain medical advice first, Dunstan told The Australian newspaper on Saturday, adding that the church has since stopped handing out pamphlets.

NT Health Minister Kon Vatskalis said the Scientology brochures were "utterly irresponsible".
The Church of Scientology is the largest organization devoted to the practice and the promotion of the Scientology belief system.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/health/2010-11/20/c_13614637.htm
 
This is bullshit. Narconon works great for some people. There was a Norwegian guy who had been on drugs for 24 years of his life before entering Narconon, and now he's totally off drugs and alcohol.

He's a famour musician in Norway and now stars in a Swedish movie called Cornelis.

Get a grip and be more nuanced, you fanatics.
 

uniquemand

Unbeliever
Do you know anyone who has actually done the Narconon program, Hubbardianen? Forget the arguments, what is your experience? I don't know anyone who has done their program. Do you? Not from a success story on paper. Do you actually know them?
 

AngeloV

Gold Meritorious Patron
This is bullshit. Narconon works great for some people. There was a Norwegian guy who had been on drugs for 24 years of his life before entering Narconon, and now he's totally off drugs and alcohol.

He's a famour musician in Norway and now stars in a Swedish movie called Cornelis.

Get a grip and be more nuanced, you fanatics.

The point is that high dosage vitamin intake can be very dangerous to some people with medical conditions. And second, no scientific study has been done to determine the efficacy of vitamin 'therapy' on drug addicts. From anecdotal accounts on this message board, apparently it doesn't work the vast majority of the time. And it is not done under the supervision of a doctor which may put the persons health at risk.
 
I've done Purif myself, I've never done drugs though. I felt fresher after Purif, I welcome scientific studies on the subject.

Yeah, I've talked to a few who've done Narconon, not that many. They thought it worked.

Certainly true that there could be some risks with too much vitamins, that should carefully be watched.

Is Methadone better? More drugs is the solution?
 

Alanzo

Bardo Tulpa
I've done Purif myself, I've never done drugs though. I felt fresher after Purif, I welcome scientific studies on the subject.

Yeah, I've talked to a few who've done Narconon, not that many. They thought it worked.

Certainly true that there could be some risks with too much vitamins, that should carefully be watched.

Is Methadone better? More drugs is the solution?

You are presenting a false choice.

It isn't either the Purif or more drugs.

Look at the purif itself and the underlying assumptions of the theory behind it.

Is perspiration the way the body de-toxifies itself?

Are things like LSD and other toxins stored in "fat cells" ?

Does niacin really act in the body the way L Ron Hubbard says it does?

What do the actual experts on physiology - who have nothing to do with either Scientology or psychiatry - have to say about these things?

Have you ever looked?
 

the-ghostwhowalks

Patron with Honors
This is bullshit. Narconon works great for some people. There was a Norwegian guy who had been on drugs for 24 years of his life before entering Narconon, and now he's totally off drugs and alcohol.

He's a famour musician in Norway and now stars in a Swedish movie called Cornelis.

Get a grip and be more nuanced, you fanatics.

ONE product ? I'm delighted ! What about the rest ? And if it worked once , why not on the others ? Fanaticism ? - objectivity and free speech I think .... :coolwink:
 

skydog

Patron Meritorious
This is bullshit. Narconon works great for some people. There was a Norwegian guy who had been on drugs for 24 years of his life before entering Narconon, and now he's totally off drugs and alcohol.

He's a famour musician in Norway and now stars in a Swedish movie called Cornelis.

Get a grip and be more nuanced, you fanatics.

I smell troll dung. You say it works great for "some" people. The same could be said for Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous, etc. The scientologists say "it is the only successful drug and alcohol program". Obviously they are wrong. The fact of the matter is that once the individual is ready to address his issues with drugs and alcohol, they are vulnerable and will try anything.
 

uniquemand

Unbeliever
I've done Purif myself, I've never done drugs though. I felt fresher after Purif, I welcome scientific studies on the subject.

Yeah, I've talked to a few who've done Narconon, not that many. They thought it worked.

Certainly true that there could be some risks with too much vitamins, that should carefully be watched.

Is Methadone better? More drugs is the solution?

I did my purif, too, and I've done nearly every drug under the sun. I felt fresher, as well, and my perception seemed a lot sharper. A few days later, I smoked a fat joint laced with hashish, and it hit me harder and better than it had before. Thanks, Ron!

Seriously, sweat regimes are purgative, and a healthy person can do them with pretty low risk. The requirement for the Niacin, IMO, makes a certain amount of sense at a low dose, because it dilates the capillaries (the reason for the red skin flush: not radiation). The higher dosages, though, seem only to serve the purpose of a convincing placebo. SOMETHING is definitely happening (your capillaries are dilating), and thus, maybe the other things in "Clear Body, Clear Mind" are happening, right?

Quitting drugs is a decision. Breaking the addiction is not dependent on sweating. Sometimes the dose they had been taking needs to be stepped down slowly, or they will suffer incredibly. I have suffered from opiate withdrawal, and it's no joke.

Drug use is a highly individual problem (where it IS a problem). Different people start for different reasons, and develop different justifications for continuing, and whole lifestyles around their habits. A lot of habits have to change, justifications need to be challenged, reviewed, and the person needs to make a decision they are comfortable with, letting go of justifications. Ultimately, it is likely that the "prior confusion" (in Scientology terms), or situation that they started using drugs to avoid, or solve, will have to be reviewed, and new decisions made about better ways to handle that situation, should it come up again.

There are types of exercise that are highly meditative that can help a person become healthy if they weren't, while giving them time to think, or NOT THINK, if that's what they need for a while. Sitting in a sauna creates a hostile environment for the body. For short periods of time, it can be pleasant, but for longer stays, it is an ordeal, and stressful for your body.

You might want to consider that most brainwashing regimens include putting a person in a very high stress environment to break them down, while offering them new types of social environments and rules to follow to build them back up in a new identity. The Army does it with Basic Training (which I've done: my Scientology experience prepared me well, they couldn't shake me), the CIA did it with electroshock and LSD (they did this during MK-Ultra) coupled with hypnotic chanting, and it could well be that this was included in public Scientology because most Scientologists weren't going to opt in to the high-stress environment of the Sea Organization's EPF.

A person could do yoga, or running, or other types of exercise to get their body producing endorphins, as well, which can relieve depression, help with anxiety, and produce a feeling of well-being, as well as getting the person "in communication with their body".

Furthermore, the objection to using drugs in principle, IMO, is a dogma. There are times when drugs are good for you, and there are times when they are habit-forming and bad for you. In fact, there is evidence that some drugs used in "party" environments are very effective in helping people quit harmful drug habits. For instance, the drug MDMA has been shown to relieve PTSD, and to help people quit other drugs, and is not, itself, addictive. People can abuse that drug, and they do, but this doesn't reduce it's medicinal value. LSD has also been shown to be effective with relieving drug problems. See http://www.maps.org Another drug which is highly experimental, but which has shown a high degree of effectiveness for people quitting heroin and cocaine and methamphetamine comes from Africa, derived from an ancient Bwiti shamanic herb called Iboga. The medical variant is called Ibogaine.

At any rate, keep an open mind. Even within Scientology circles, the Purif is not considered a remedy for drug addiction. It is considered (again, within Scientology circles) a method for flushing remaining toxins out of the body so that the reactive mind (sic) doesn't have constant restimulation from the remaining toxins. It is the Scientology Drug Rundown that is supposed to deal with the reasons the person was using, and it is the TRs and Objectives that are supposed to give them new coping strategies and habits to replace the drug culture. The Scientology Organizations then become their new support group, replacing their "druggie friends". For people who are going to be lifelong scientologists, this might be very effective, but then again, the person has replaced being a member of the drug culture with being a member of a UFO cult.
 
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Zinjifar

Silver Meritorious Sponsor
The point is that the *theory* (if you can call it that, which you can't) behind the 'purif' is pure bullshit. The statistics are pure bullshit. The claims for being 'secular' are bullshit. The claims for it being 'science' are pure bullshit.

And, it's delivered by Scientology, but, they lie about that.

Zinj
 
Yeah, I've read through "Narconon - junk science" or whatever it was called on the Internet. That convinced me the Purif might not be so great as I first thought.

I'm not saying Narconon is the best solution, I think it should be one of the solutions offered to people since it obviously has worked for some. Instead of more drugs, perhaps more communication and some sweatin' seems to work for some people.
 
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