Scientology's Narconon Trois-Rivières Shutdown [update2]

Narconon practices risky, according to regional Health Agency

Marc Lacour

985fm.ca  [Apr 17] (translated) ~ The Mauricie and Central-Quebec Health and Social Services Agency gave details on Tuesday about the reasons that led it to deny certification to the Narconon Trois-Rivières detoxification center.

The center was ordered to cease its activities and to relocate the twenty-four residents who were there. Seventeen of them were transferred to Narconon centers in the United States. The organization has ten days to send its comments to the Agency, which will then issue a final decision. The center will then have sixty days to contest the decision before the Quebec administrative court.

Of the fifty-five criteria required for certification, the Quebec Accreditation Council identified forty-six deficiencies, twenty-six of them considered high-risk. One of the procedures that represents a health risk is the sauna sweating sessions combined with massive doses of vitamins.

Narconon's methods are based on the teachings of the Church of Scientology, which, according to the Agency, perceives drug addiction as moral depravity and associates it with dishonesty.

Marc Lacour also confirmed that the regional complaints commissioner has received a certain number of complaints about Narconon. Clients who wanted to end their stay prematurely complained that their identity cards, passports, and money were taken and withheld to make departing more complicated.

CBC TV -Radio Canada Newscast 

In this April 17, 2012 report, Radio-Canada journalist Maude Montembeault summarizes a press conference held by the Mauricie Health and Social Services Agency about the reasons for which Narconon Trois-Rivières failed to obtain accreditation as a residential detoxification center.

Scientologist-run rehab center ordered closed in Quebec

cbc.ca [Apr 17] ~ The head of a regional health agency in Quebec said he had no choice but to shut down a Scientology-based rehab centre in Trois-Rivières.

Narconon Trois-Rivières

In recent months, he said at least four clients were taken to hospital because of methods used at the centre.
The Narconon Trois-Rivières is one of dozens of similar centres in the U.S. and around the world where the detox treatment is inspired by the teachings of Scientology.

Mauricie regional health agency director Marc Latour said Narconon Trois-Rivières advertised an 80 per cent success rate and charged $25,000 for its program. Latour said the centre was dangerous for patients and violated many of the criteria regulating Quebec's rehab centres. He said there was no medical supervision and no scientific basis to the treatment. [more a link]

Narconon centre in Trois Rivières ordered to relocate its residents 

montrealgazette.com [Apr 17] ~ Health officials have ordered the Narconon rehabilitation centre for drug addicts in Trois Rivières to evacuate and relocate its 32 residents, citing concerns over procedures that “may represent a risk to health” and the lack of doctors on staff.

Following an investigation into the centre’s activities by the Centre Québécois d’agrément, an independent body mandated to monitor quality in health care, the agency for health and social services for the Mauricie Region said Tuesday it does not intend to certify Narconon.

The centre, among the largest of 50 Narconon centres in 22 countries, bases its treatment on the teachings of the Church of Scientology headquartered in California, giving its “students” high doses of niacin and having them sit in saunas for about five hours a day. The rest of the treatment consists of “Training Routines” based on the teachings of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, in which patients perform the same tasks over and over.
Residents in Trois Rivières paid $25,000 to $30,000 for their treatment, which lasted on average three to five months.
Marc Lacour, the director of the Mauricie Health and Social Services Agency... [continued at link]

TVA: Narconon Trois-Rivières Employees Go Unpaid

In this (above) April 17, 2012 report, TVA journalist Ghislain Morissette describes the plight of former Narconon Trois-Rivières employees who had not been paid for weeks and who suddenly lost their jobs when Narconon was forced to shut down because it failed to obtain accreditation as a residential detoxification center.

NARCONON closure: Employees not paid

tvanouvelles.ca (translated) [Apr 17] ~ TROIS-RIVIÈRES | (QMI Agency) Former employees of the Narconon Trois-Rivières center shut down by Quebec fear they will not be paid the money owed them.

The Mauricie Health and Social Services Agency revoked the certification of Narconon, a detoxification program with ties to the Church of Scientology.

Narconon's employees are now saying they haven't received their salary for many weeks and they fear they will never be compensated. "They didn't say anything to us about our pay," said a woman who worked there. "I think our money is lost. We ought to forget about it."

Another former employee denounced the fact that Narconon managers who are members of the Church of Scientology advocate honesty but don't practice what they preach.

"It's not the program that's the problem," said a former employee. "The problem is management. The problem is that if I teach someone to be honest, then I myself should be honest."

A controversial method
Spending seven to eight hours a day in a sauna for 21 days, shouting at an ashtray, ingesting massive vitamin doses - this, among other things, is the treatment that Narconon Trois-Rivières offers drug addicts.

This peculiar detoxification method is based on the writings of the founder of the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. A typical two-to-three-month stay at Narconon Trois-Rivières costs $23,000.

---

Thanks to Intelligence, mnql1 for the links and translations at wwp