EXPERTS CHALLENGE CLAIMS OF SCIENTOLOGY'S SWEAT-IT-OUT TREATMENT FOR ADDICTS

EDMONTON - A drug and alcohol treatment program backed by the
controversial Church of Scientology is promising addicted Albertans
an extraordinary 70-per-cent success rate.

The Narconon program is marketed as "100-per-cent natural," and
prescribes intensive saunas, exercise and high doses of vitamins to
cleanse the body of "radiation, drugs and toxins."

Advertisements for the Narconon program have appeared in recent
months on Edmonton's CKUA radio and in weekly newspapers throughout
the province.

Addiction experts and academics in Canada, the United States and
Europe have long warned the Narconon program has no scientific basis
for its claims.

University of Alberta sociologist Dr. Steve Kent said the program may
serve another purpose.

"The program provides the Scientology organization with claims of
socially beneficial programs," said Kent, a world-recognized expert
in the Church of Scientology. "It provides some Scientologists with
employment and it certainly provides the Scientology organization
with income and a possible recruitment vehicle for new members."

Narconon spokesman Brad Melnychuk of Toronto insists the program has
verified its results, and he said no attempt is made to use it to
recruit new members to Scientology. He said rules are in place to
ensure "vulnerable" drug-or alcohol-addicted individuals are not
subjected to any pressure from Scientologists working for Narconon.
He said only four or five per cent of the addicts who go through
Narconon programs become Scientologists.

Melnychuk is the executive director of the Association for Better
Living and Education Canada (ABLE Canada), a non-profit group that
offers several programs, including Narconon, that are based on the
teachings of the late American author L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of
Scientology.

Scientology emphasizes self-improvement and rejects psychiatry and
psychotherapy as inhumane pseudo-science. Believers hold that mental
well-being can be achieved though "auditing," a process of discussing
harmful unconscious memories of past trauma, including those in previous lives.

Begun by Hubbard in the 1950s, Scientology now boasts 5,200 churches,
missions and groups worldwide, and operates drug rehabilitation and
education programs through ABLE Canada, which incorporated in Calgary
in March. Scientology boasts several Hollywood stars as members,
including Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley, who says the
Narconon program saved her life.

Melnychuk said the full four-month program costs about $20,000.
Albertans are referred to Narconon's residential facility in Trois
Rivieres, Que., northeast of Montreal.

Since 2002, 37 Albertans have graduated from the program: 14 from
Calgary, six from Edmonton and the remainder from rural Alberta. The
most common drug addictions reported by Albertans were to crack
cocaine and painkillers, Melnychuk said.

He said the program's 70-per-cent success rate is measured by
graduates of the program who remain drug- and alcohol-free for two years.

Various independent assessments of Narconon's physiological claims
have found they are not based on widely accepted medical and
scientific evidence.

"These kinds of claims, if you're looking at them scientifically,
have to be corroborated by data," said Dr. Tom Brown, a drug rehab
researcher at McGill University in Montreal. "They have a lot of
underlying assumptions that are not really borne out by the current
state of scientific literature."

Narconon's claimed success rate of 70 per cent has also been questioned.

"Well-designed, well-implemented, well-managed, evidence-based
programs will yield around a 30-per-cent reduction in use," said Dr.
John Weekes, a senior research analyst with the Canadian Centre of
Substance Abuse in Ottawa, adding that drug addiction researchers
would "freak out with elation" if they ever encountered a
scientifically verified program that produced a success rate of 70 per cent.

"We are always hoping for something really high, but really high in
this world realistically is about 30 per cent."

Melnychuk insists there are studies that prove Narconon's program not
only works as claimed, but also produces the 70-per-cent success
rate. He directed a Journal reporter to studies on the Narconon
website, which prominently features a scientific advisory panel.

"Not all of them are Scientologists, but a lot of them either are or
have close affiliations with the organization," the U of A's Kent
said. He said there have been independent studies of the program, but
they showed the success rate is very low.

Brown, the McGill researcher, said Narconon, while not scientifically
substantiated, may be no worse than many other popular drug and
alcohol rehab programs that are also not backed by science. He said
an important element in the effectiveness of a rehab program is the
addict's belief in the program.

"Treatments that are actively sought by clients and are valued by the
client tend to be the most effective," he said.

Detox Program

Based on the writings of L. Ron Hubbard, the Narconon program claims
drug residues remain indefinitely in body fat, causing people to
experience repeated drug flashbacks and cravings.

The Narconon "New Life Detoxification Program" prescribes a regime of
intensive saunas and exercise to sweat out from the body the residues
that cause addiction. The physiological detoxification program is
followed by several rehab programs for the addict's potential
psychological problems, including the "Ups & Downs in Life Course"
and "The Way to Happiness Course."

Narconon spokesman Brad Melnychuk said he has personally witnessed
the effectiveness of the sauna program. "You can actually see the
toxins come out," he said. "You see the colour of the skin change,
you can test the sweat, put it under a microscope and see in fact
that these toxins do come out and you can see the person change daily
and get better."

Narconon has alcohol- and drug-rehabilitation centres throughout
North America and Europe. One of the best known is Arrowhead in
Oklahoma. Narconon applied to the state's board of mental health for
certification. In a report, the board noted that most drugs are
removed from the body through the liver, kidney and lungs. "Although
minute quantities of some drugs may be found in sweat, the amount
represents a small fraction of drug elimination," the board's report stated.