PROBE OF ANTIDRUG PROGRAM ORDERED

State Schools Chief Says He Could Bar Narconon Teachings

California's top educator said Wednesday that he has ordered the state
Department of Education to investigate an antidrug program used by
schools around the state whose teachings have been linked with the
Church of Scientology.

State schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said the investigation
could lead to an order barring schools from using the program, called
Narconon Drug Prevention and Education.

The popular program, based in Hollywood, has provided antidrug
instruction in schools around the country for more than two decades.
Narconon has made presentations in at least 20 school districts in
California, including San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Leading addiction experts, however, have labeled some of the medical
theories advanced by Narconon as "irresponsible" and
"pseudoscience."

"We have an obligation to inform school districts of potentially
inaccurate and misleading information being distributed," O'Connell
said. "We'll start following this. We can send a memo to all school
districts with the flip of a switch."

O'Connell said he learned about Narconon a week ago, when The
Chronicle published articles describing parallels between Narconon's
instruction and Scientology's religious concepts and language. The
parallels included theories about drug addiction that five medical
experts interviewed by The Chronicle said had no basis in fact.

Among the theories:

. Drugs -- including ecstasy, LSD and marijuana -- accumulate in body
fat, causing drug cravings and flashbacks for years.

. Drugs in fat scramble the "mental image pictures" that make up the
mind.

. The vitamin niacin pulls drugs from fat, and saunas sweat them from
the body.

. Colored ooze is produced when drugs exit the body.

The doctors interviewed by The Chronicle who denounced the theories
were Peter Banys, director of substance abuse programs at the San
Francisco VA Medical Center; Neal Benowitz, head of clinical
pharmacology at UCSF; Timmen Cermak, medical director of Ohlhoff
Recovery Programs in San Francisco and Marin County; David Smith of
the Haight-Ashbury Free Clinic; and Igor Grant, director of the Center
for Medicinal Cannabis Research at UC San Diego.

Narconon officials strongly defend the scientific accuracy of the
claims. They acknowledge that Narconon's administrators and lecturers
are Scientologists and that Scientologists financially support
Narconon. But they are adamant that the program is legally and
financially separate from the Church of Scientology.

Last week, San Francisco schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman gave
Narconon until June 24 to revise parts of its curriculum or be barred
from the district. O'Connell said Wednesday that Ackerman had acted
properly.

On Wednesday, Narconon President Clark Carr said he and his staff
would address Ackerman's concerns in writing or in person before the
deadline.

"Narconon is very confident that any questions the San Francisco
Unified School District or the state Department of Education have will
be clarified in our forthcoming presentation to them," Carr said. "We
have not received any questions from the state Department of
Education. But we understand that the San Francisco schools and the
state have concerns to ensure that the children get the best drug
education -- and that's our concern, too.

"We're working on it now and will fully handle all the questions --
not just the narrow questions but the whole issue of the validity of
the drug education."

According to Narconon's promotional material, 5,434 students received
Narconon drug education in San Francisco schools during 2003.

Narconon has been delivering lectures in the city's schools since
1991, but Ackerman, who arrived in the district in 2000, said she was
unfamiliar with the program until a reporter began asking questions
about it last winter. She said that was because Narconon contacts
individual schools, not districts, to offer its services.

Narconon uses charismatic lecturers to deliver its school
presentations, and many teachers and students have praised the
program. Instruction usually is financed by small businesses run by
Scientologists.

In exchange for the free program, Narconon asks students and teachers
to write letters of thanks to the businesses and uses the letters in
its promotional materials.

Although Narconon has been active in San Francisco, most of its
California business is done in the southern part of the state. Los
Angeles Unified is the largest district in the state to host the program.

Through a spokeswoman, Los Angeles schools Superintendent Roy Romer
declined to comment about Narconon. But the spokeswoman, Stephanie
Brady, said the program was under review by the district's health department.

John Perez, president of United Teachers of Los Angeles, expressed
concern about Narconon.

"We're not interested in thinly disguised religion being put upon the
students," he said. "The schools are a secular institution, and there
has to be a wall of separation between religion and public schools."