It was also capable of controling the floor show when ever there was an investigation, during these times Elan became a large weird hotel lobby, albeit briefly, while investigators simply saw our blank faces. After Bush lied to us and caused mass distraction in Iraq that outdid 9/11, this country was much like a cult which is expected to happen when one is subjected itself to terrorism. Ben had told me you felt I had added more to what you had written and your excellent children study, and when I went back and read it I saw there was ambiguity between when I was quoting you and when I was adding my own additional comment. They made people like Bernie Kolb who I loved very much. The problem is, however, is how to ensure they are taken advantage of. I find I edit better after I posted and edited this one about 5 times so far. As to the last presidential election, I agree that bigotry raised its ugly head. On June 27, 1990, six weeks after the death of Michelle Sutton, 16-year-old Kristin Chase died at the Challenger wilderness camp in Utah of hyperthermia and dehydration after a 5-mile forced march in 105-degree heat. lawyer magazine paul Morantz on you tube. Rather than a commune wonderfully described by Yablonsky and Janzen as reforming criminals, it made criminals out of non-criminals, and took former reformed criminals to a higher level of criminal violence. After saying staying in Synanon is the addicts only chance for sustained life, in 1976 Dederich said that in 5 years there would be no room for the kind of people you are now. Rogers had been referring to the dangers involved with a kid participating in a typical Synanon Game with 11 people yelling at him, where he could fight back verbally, where he could leave if he chose, and where there was no physical violence. Its a calculated risk. His family claims his pleas for help were ignored. Since I alone have the records (UCLA has only what Synanon chose to give it) I felt obligated. Synanons most important legacy was to fulfill sociologist Edgar Freidenberg prediction after reading Yablonskys book that the organization was punitive, brainwashed and would ultimately create a dangerous state of mind. What lies did we believe wholeheartedly?". After 30 years of pondering, I came full circle and realized that sociologist Richard Ofshe had analyzed it right from the start. He spent 15 years Synanon just wasnt that big enough to be an influence. All throughout history when the same mix occurs so do the same results. ! It quotes statements I did not make but Dederich did. By 1976 the plan to transfer the money to the Dederich family was cemented and implanted. A small portion decided they had enough, and gave too much credit to Synanon and not enough to their own will power. Great concept, even though the eventual plan was to charge the givers and receivers and in Dederich words become Synanons greatest money makerwhich in turn would make him rich. WebSynanon Museum (no password required) Please fill in both the "User ID" and "Password" entries; If you don't have a User Id and Password yet please Click HERE to Sign up: User This is not a criticism of that policy; but just the fact that it was insignificant in relation to the civil rights movement which was raging in the 60s and pushed by the Kennedys, Martin Luther King, and many black actors and athletes and my generation that marched and died in name of civil rights. gave a grant to a Florida organization called The Seed, which applied Synanons methods to teenagers, even to those only suspected of trying drugs . 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. Hillary Clinton probably wouldve made a good president, the Alaskan Gov. but if I missed something please tell me. For those, as stated above, there is no doubt Synanon served as Ofshe stated, a realistic shelter while they got their act together. Poor and, at one point, subsisting mostly off of rabbits they raised and butchered in their backyard, Jollett was unable to process the trauma he'd experienced, according to the book. Synanon did not even keep it from the public. The same result was stated by Steve Simon in his Harvard dissertation only in much more elaborate detail. Synanon was the first therapeutic community devoted to the treatment of the drug addicted according to the Encyclopedia of Drugs and Alcohol, which is edited by the first White House Drug Czar; Dr. Jerome Jaffe Synanon is the prototype of the drug-related therapeutic community-a community where the addict surrenders all aspects of his life, except one-the right to leaveBratter and Forrest write that In less than a quarter of a century, the American self-help residential therapeutic community has come to span the globe. As stated above, as Dederich believed this, his squeezes and toss outslike old timer Bill Crawford was willfully sentencing one to death for CEDs ego and financial gain. No one knows the actual final fate of the 19. Worse, they continue today despite strong efforts to expose them. The Old Man would testify that he never gave a splitee a single thought from the moment each left. And in March she went, flying into Georgetown with her family, a few friends, and Jordan "He was just this big, masculine, Italian, strong guy that loved his boys. Straight used Synanons vaginal and anal searches to search for contraband for years even though they never found any. Let alone, 'Okay, here you go stranger I've never met, take care of my kid. You would also have learned that I have been in the room with many Synanon people countless times. Yet it was from this that the miracle was proclaimed. The example story might be that of Joe Musico and Lance Kenton. In my book Synanon was only one chapter. just state that and agree to the group rules!! Former Synanite Dr. David Deitch, then a Phoenix House director, has stated, A client must have the choice of leaving treatment, even if the youngster is on probation and the alternative is jail.(19) Richard Ashley wrote in Heroin that, The only power of decision the member retains once he enters a TC is the decision to leave. Dr. Efren Ramirez, founder of Phoenix House, has said that you dont rehabilitate a person against his will.. This story If Dederich had just built a shelter, fed and clothed, and gave support he would have had something. Jollett says his feelings were not validated by his mother, who instead relied on him for comfort. S. B. WebNeed your help! All the civil rights marches, the anti-Vietnam protests, were uniting people of all races. Straights attorney for that trial was a prominent Washington, DC civil liberties lawyer named Ronald Goldfarb. And thats it for the idea that Synanon played a role in curing drug addiction. I'm not doing that. (He considers his dad's partner, Bonnie, his mother. 479 members Join group About this group Anybody who's been touched by The SYNANON Cult as well as anybody who's suffered ANY TTI programs or institutional abuse youre welcome, as well See more Private Oh so very funny. Bellis, citing various sources, found that the success rate in the Synanon imitators was no better than that the dismal statistics of Synanon itself. Fourteen-year-old Martin Lee Anderson was murdered within 3 hours of his arrival at a Florida boot camp that was run by the local sheriff, Bay County Sheriff Frank McKeithen, on January 6, 2006. Nicholaus Contreraz, 16, died at the Arizona Boys Ranch near Oracle, Arizona, March 2, 1998, of cardiac arrest, after instructors continued to harass him and force him to exercise even though he told them he was sick. No doubt their belief in Synanon was so strong that they had a good influence on others, but unfortunately they were also subjected to the Synanon system which from the early days warned of the enemy at the door (which Dederich eventually confessed at deposition he made up to bond followers), and later declared that you could never go home or contact outsiders. Thats why I wrote the history of Synanon because there is so much to learn. This issue obviously needs further elaboration and research, but there are suggestions that there are age limits below which this form of treatment is contraindicated. Even today, some ex Synanon members, including many who had claimed they were harmed and/or were critical upon leaving, have played an on-line version with each other that slowly brought them back into the fold, confessing what others want to hear and afraid to say what they dont. And that number was highly inflated by injection of squares and children born to addicts and squares alike. The money was too good; parents panicking at the finding of a joint and willing to pay exorbitant amounts of money to anyone with the sales pitch, never quite understanding the tortures and deaths that awaited. Real crazy people. Instead it is led to countless deaths, destruction of lives and still continues today. Congratulations. 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. About six years ago, though, she began thinking it might be a good idea. He wrote the failure of Yablonsky to see the horror of what he had written raised questions suggesting a lack of humanity in Yablonsky. This was written before he joined. This is not limited to addicts. We were mentally ill. Chuck Dederich would not only envy the Money Elan made, but the protection they got. "And probing into this world of the traumatized child. Paul Morantz . And while because it was so small, its influence in non-publicized areas is doubtful. Copyright Paul Morantz. . I stated my views, but I gave statistics and reports to back them, most unfortunate to learn of the great tragedy that have occurred in the clones are all these years. "In the case of my brother, he became the scapegoat. borderline schizophrenic patients, schizoid personalities, and acutely anxious, neurotic adolescents. And I really try to do that," Jollett says. As I said in the beginning, my views changed at different times, and it was only upon reading of what happened at the clones was my view finally shaped. Sure it maybe closed but it still needs to be investigated in the same fashion that Penn state was investigated. I was forced to watch twenty men and women beat a 14 year old girl in what we called a, Cowboy Ass kicking, for ten to twenty minutes. What is known about the early days, was that the older joiners were more likely to stay than the younger, and its initial opening success per Ofshe reflected that then the current age of entry was 34 or older; they were people who had a strong desire to remove themselves from the demanding regime of an addict/criminal life. Elan was known of using such standards as haircut, pull- up, the game and humiliating signs; but added a boxing ring for resisters to be plummeted by bigger guys until a bloody confession was extracted, regardless of its truth. The group ultimately became a cult called the Church of Synanon in the 1970s. Synanon disbanded in 1991 [6] due to members being convicted of criminal activities (including attempted murder) and retroactive loss of its tax-exempt status with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) due to financial misdeeds, destruction of evidence, and terrorism. [7] Did you change partners? 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. Per Dr. Robert J. Lifton, this is what one would expect from any totalitarianism environment after removal. NIH had even started its own experimental synanon at the federal lockup hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. in the understanding and treatment of adolescents. Suggest you get my book on Amazonmy life was not limited to Synanon. Also, because of time restraints, I put up the information so it is there and then go back and edit when I have the chance. According to Department of Even if the system had worked, the price was too high free will. And finally, in the end, Synanon legacy is one not only of discrimination, but it became the Ku Klux Klan when it came to its conceived enemies. Students quickly found themselves in a new, strange, uncomfortable and often frightening world of intense group relationships and heightened, invasive and violent group therapies. Others reported in 1973 that the Synanon absorbing members was retention, not rehabilitation, a result found unfortunately in many of the Synanon clones, which Synanon bragged 2,400 existed. And he started saying, 'Don't be like me. You would know that in general I have a higher regard for Synanon people than the public at large. '", After Tony went to rehab, their dad quit his job to be home with them and cooked dinner every night. Its first example, naturally, as failure, was Synanon, and like Synanon, its clones became the darlings of the media and politicians in election years. That's crazy,'" says Jollett, reflecting back on cult-members giving their children away at 6 months old. Thank you again Paul for taking my call back in May of 2011,and for taking an interest in the Elan cult. *..*.*. I would say some things are not debatable. This is due, in part, to many Synanites having left to form their own lucrative drug rehabilitation companiesa degree in medicine is not a requirement. no Mr. Vandeman I am not deleting this as it is not as vulgar as the others. It is the freedom of thought and free speech that gave America the chance to go on and recover from its mistakes. 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