Although Synanon was officially shut down in 1991, it had inspired followers to start similar groups that perpetuated Synanons worst principles. In 1964 a New Jersey Drug Study Commission opted not to give Synanon any funding after reviewing rehabilitation statistics supplied by Synanon Foundation. (17), The evidence has shown that brutal, verbal confrontation sessions are no more effective in controlling drug abuse among adult hard-core heroin addicts than other methods of control. they were supposed to be about love, while men were about war. It quotes statements I did not make but Dederich did. Sidney Poitier did more for race relations in one movie than most of the world combined. Yet by 1968, to justify ending graduation, if Dederich was correct, there was little success in curing addicts. History is full of similar situations, with similar results, where the group eventually mutated out of its violent stageslike Christianity and Mormons. "You just love them up, just squeeze them and kiss them and tell them how much you love them, and think about their needs, and have empathy for them," he says. Originally a nonviolent group, Diedrich created the Imperial Marines to maintain orderwithin and outside of the community. I witnessed a few cow boy ass kickings. But there wont be any room for the kind of people you are now. Seven years before that trial Goldfarb had written a book calling for prison reform using the Synanon-style therapeutic community. Most of what I wrote was a no comment description in detail of Synanons evolution taken from its own records. In one of his many papers on Synanon, Ofshe noted that it is doubtful that all the therapeutic communities that cloned themselves after Synanon would have done so if they heard Mr. Dederich testify as he did in 1979: its always a mistake to let anyone into Synanon. of Synanon, own study of Synanon records found that during the first 2 years 90% had departed within one year. A Violent, Deadly Cult With Forced Abortions and Shades of Scientology FOLLOW THE LEADER San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers via Getty Images And in March she went, flying into Georgetown with her family, a few friends, and Jordan Dawnne Takeuchi, 18, was killed when she was thrown from a semi-truck near Pagosa Springs, Colorado, in June 1994. So I asked him how he could then discount it and he responded because if it existed, he would have to consider it occurring in religions (he is a Christian and lover of utopian communities) and other groups. Kimberly Stafford, the Vision Quest counselor who was driving the supply vehicle, was convicted of careless driving. You think I didnt experience Synanon, but I did. A. Confidential. Ordered by the court out of Synanon, he returned to a life of crime and was murdered. Most program lingo IS Synanon lingo! While Dederich suggested to world nothing in the game was to be taken seriously, he would admit in deposition in 1979 and 1981 that in operating Synanon, he did not give direct orders, but would inject everything he wanted members to do in a Synanon game or by his dialogue at Think Tables. It does appear prior post returned and I did respond to you at length. In fact there are chapters in my history pointing to all the others who did and who were my heroes and gave them credit they never had. Others who completed the program were absorbed into the organization as low-paid or voluntary staff limited to walking around money. Still, to glorify Synanon, as some do, like Yablonsky, Janzen, is to show a lack of humanity and spit in the face of the vast amount of victims of violence in Synanons own holocaust. In writing all these chapters, I tried to set forth the facts as factual as they occurred, thus leaving for historians to make their own answers to these questions. Further, history has taught me that what I usually suspected turned out to be accurate. The example story might be that of Joe Musico and Lance Kenton. Almost all modern day therapeutic communitiesand there are hundreds of themare based on the game. Comments here are for input, questions, and providing of facts. Jollett believes the violence to which adults were subjected has received widespread attention. In discussing the aftermath, I tried to explain that my views differed at different times as I received new and different information. Barker had been arrested at age 16 for burglary and when he was 18 he was charged with assault and robbery, for which he joined the Army a few days later and then went AWOL. I offered them to him but he declined. But that dwindled as the joiners became younger and Dederich turned his attention to using the media and Hollywood to produce a flow of persons, goods and services to develop by 1976 over $30 million in assets and the start of large salaries and bonuses. A recovering alcoholic named Art Barker in 1970 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and run almost entirely by kids for kids. This was written before he joined. This piece was limited to legacy and was put together through stats, admissions and results in clones. At one time, the view I had was believing that brainwashing was probably an ideal cure, but at what cost? The same result was stated by Steve Simon in his Harvard dissertation only in much more elaborate detail. By 1976 the plan to transfer the money to the Dederich family was cemented and implanted. Because he had lived for so long surrounded by yes people, he had no understanding how others would see his actions and thus was very open in admitting what he did, including that violence could not happen unless he approved it. Instead it is led to countless deaths, destruction of lives and still continues today. Eventually in a 1978 tape recording called The Freebees are over Dederich set forth the plan to establish a private corporation, Home Place, Inc. in Arizona which would charge Synanon for rotating people to the new compound to be educated by Dederich and that Synanon would pay the corporation for this, which then would pay salaries to Dederich and his cronies, of which they would pay taxes. We were mentally ill. Chuck Dederich would not only envy the Money Elan made, but the protection they got. And the grant had been administered by the founding director of NIDA who also happened to be the second White House Drug Czar-Robert DuPont. 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Tony, always angry as a child, sank into addiction at an early age and went to rehab. Unlike Janzen, I was not looking for fans from any groups, but to record the knowledge I obtained so it might benefit others, as well as presenting an interesting read. Jollett also healed by opening himself up to therapy, music and, eventually, love. Maybe it's one of the things about human nature, that isolated power corrupts people. Rose Lena Cole was court ordered to Syanon by a juvenile court judge in 1972 for running away from home. Worse, when others, like Dr. Casriel, who formed Daytop, decided to use the Synanon approach modified, they did not understand the effect of age and desire in the Synanon flashes of success and further the danger of its approach as described by Simon and Friedenberg. The real origins of the Cedu schools remained hidden from the students, their parents and much of the staff until years after their graduation or departure. In my book Synanon was only one chapter. "Our parents weren't bad people, they didn't choose to turn their children into orphans. Looking back, I think my brother was appropriately angry with the adults.". The problem is, however, is how to ensure they are taken advantage of. I'm not doing that. I was being sincere. Whatever truth might lie within, I concluded with ease that some people being addicted was a price of free thought. As stated, Dederich, himself, admitted at deposition that he created the boogeyman to bond people and keep them from running away. And it will be edited further. Further residents feared Synanon would be a beacon that brought addicts and when they dropped out they would burgalize and sell dope to the children, all which happened. Some people, whether from genes or experiences, or combinations thereof, just are not capable of living a good life on their own. We're going to pillage the town! There were countless communes and entities much larger that took in people of all races. see review. Commonly employed and widely admired in 12-step groups and treatment., The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it., Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. Rather, the organizations said they worked, so people believed it. . According to newspaper articles of the day he has publicly disclosed, Ive smoked pot, popped pills, but none of the hard stuff. Hereceived a degree in psychology from a mail-order company in Florida. My disappointment, as stated in my book, is that after all this great work, led by the entertainment field it regressed, with HBO and Showtime saying the best job you could get if you were a woman was to strip or manipulate a millionaire to marry you. Both AA and Synanon provided this insight, but unfortunately each bounded its members with an ideology and demand to never quit the organizations. In Is This A Camp Or Jail? by Adam Cohen, Time, January 26, 1998, he chronicled the three dozen deaths that occurred in such wilderness camps in the past decade. Aaron Bacon, 16, North Star Expeditions, Utah, March 1994, was beaten and tortured, thirsted and starved to death, as well as denied medical treatment for a fatal condition. Yet it was from this that the miracle was proclaimed. This program was called MATRIX. But he failed to see while controlled and anti-social pathology still existedit awaited release and that many were eager to respond to their old days ways if the message to do good turned to do bad. This intrusive, assertive therapeutic style works well for a few clients but may injure many more. Professor Bellis noted that, A number of clients. Almost entirely by kids for kids he returned to a life of crime was. He returned to a life of crime and was murdered example story might be that of Joe Musico and Kenton! 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