Pubdate: Thu, 10 Jun 2004
Source: San Francisco Chronicle (CA)
Page: A-1, Front Page
Copyright: 2004 Hearst Communications Inc.
Contact:  http://www.sfgate.com/chronicle/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/388
Author: Nanette Asimov, Chronicle Staff Writer
See: an alternative: Safety First: A Reality-Based Approach to Teens, 
Drugs, and Drug Education http://www.safety1st.org/
Related: articles in Wednesday's issue 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04/n841/a07.html and 
http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v04.n843.a04.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topics/Narconon
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?225 (Students - United States)

SCHOOLS PUT DRUG PROGRAM ON NOTICE

S.F. Tells Lecturers Linked to Scientology to Fix Inaccuracies

A popular anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology will be 
ousted after 13 years in the San Francisco schools unless it agrees to stop 
teaching what the district calls inaccurate and misleading information, 
Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Wednesday.

The district's ultimatum means that Narconon Drug Prevention & Education 
has until June 24 to revise parts of its curriculum, said Ackerman, whose 
health education staff no longer wants the program to make sweeping 
generalizations about all drugs or claim that drugs are stored in fat for 
years.

"The fact that (Narconon) is addressing drugs is a positive," Ackerman 
said. "But some of the facts that they were teaching the kids support a 
philosophical or religious belief, as opposed to science, so we had to say 
'no. ' "

Narconon must make the requested changes or be "removed from the list of 
Community Based Organizations" given to San Francisco schools, according to 
a letter faxed Wednesday by the district to Narconon's education director, 
Tony Bylsma.

Bylsma, who works out of Narconon's headquarters in Hollywood, said he had 
not decided whether to comply with the district's demand.

"We don't want to desert the kids," he said. "I'm going to decide how we're 
going to respond."

It is unclear whether being removed from the district's list of approved 
organizations would prevent individual schools from hosting Narconon 
anyway, said Board of Education President Dan Kelly.

"This may require an action of the board," Kelly said. "We're not going to 
have cults and religions preaching their line in our schools."

The district sent the letter the same day that The Chronicle published 
stories about Narconon. The stories raised questions about the science 
being taught and reported that religious concepts embraced by the Church of 
Scientology have found their way into classroom lectures to students.

Narconon was created by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, who 
founded the Church of Scientology. Narconon officials say they have reached 
30,000 San Francisco students since 1991, when they began providing free 
lectures in the city's schools. The program is also in Los Angeles and 
Orange County schools and in other states. Officials say they have reached 
1.7 million students nationwide in the past decade.

Scientology correspondence reveals that Narconon instructors are taught to 
purge church language from their classroom instruction while including "all 
the Scientology and Dianetics Handbook basics." Narconon's anti-drug 
instruction also rests on key church concepts that the body stores all 
kinds of toxins indefinitely in fat, where they cause repeated flashbacks 
and drug cravings until "sweated out."

Five addiction experts, including Dr. Peter Banys of the San Francisco 
Veterans Administration Hospital and Dr. Neal Benowitz of UCSF, said they 
know of no scientific evidence to support these claims.

Yet the ideas have relevance in the Church of Scientology, which promotes a 
sauna program called Purification to "cleanse" the body of toxins believed 
to prevent church members from reaching a spiritually pure state, according 
to Hubbard's Scientology text "Clear Body, Clear Mind."

Ackerman said she took an interest in Narconon's curriculum after being 
contacted by The Chronicle months ago with questions about the program. She 
then asked her staff to see whether Narconon was "aligned with what we want 
our students to know and be able to do."

On Feb. 20, the district faxed a letter to Bylsma complaining that basic 
information about addiction was missing from its written curriculum and 
identifying one inaccurate statement, two misleading statements, and 
pointing to a Narconon newsletter containing information "not substantiated 
by any reputable authority." The newsletter was poised to go out to 
students and teachers.

The letter from Kim Coates, a district health administrator, asked Bylsma 
to clarify these statements in Narconon's curriculum:

- - "All drugs are basically poisons. The amount which you take is what 
determines the effect. A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). 
A larger amount acts as a sedative (puts you to sleep). An even larger 
amount acts as a poison and can kill you. This is true of any drug."

Coates said that statement was wrong.

- - "Most drugs or their byproducts get stored in fat within the body and can 
stay there for years. Even occasional use has long-term effects. This is a 
problem because later, when the person is working or exercising or has 
stress, the fat burns up and a tiny amount of the drug seeps back into the 
blood. This triggers cravings so the person may still want drugs even years 
after he's stopped taking them."

Coates called the statement misleading. Other medical experts, quoted in 
Wednesday's stories, said there is no evidence to support Narconon's claim 
that drugs stay in fat for years or that cravings are caused by drug 
residue in fat.

- - "Like any other drug it is poisonous to your body. ... Alcohol is made of 
dead rotted food."

Coates said both statements were misleading and asked that they be removed 
from the curriculum.

Three months later, on May 24, Bylsma sent the district a nine-page defense 
of Narconon's curriculum.

"There is sound science behind the basic truths we present to children," 
Bylsma wrote. He said that all of the statements in dispute were accurate 
and that to make the information more complex would bore the students.

"Let's be frank," he wrote. "Do you seriously think we will do better (with 
students) if we just parrot what others are saying and do not offer a fresh 
point of view?"

On Wednesday, Coates replied that unless Narconon made the requested 
changes to its curriculum, "the organization will be removed" from the 
district's list. 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake