About Narconon
Narconon Victoria Drug Education Services is a non-profit organization and is fully registered and government approved as a Harm Prevention Charity. The word Narconon comes from “NARCO” meaning drugs and “NON” meaning no.
Narconon has a mission to bring very hard - won knowledge on the actual effects of drugs and what they do to the body and mind to people everywhere. It has surprising discoveries to reveal that is not available elsewhere and a way of presentation that makes this knowledge very easy to understand and assimilate by all age and literacy levels. Its ultimate purpose is to by education not only reduce, and ultimately to eliminate drug abuse in society – in the workplace, in the school ground and in social situations.
The way in which we achieve this aim is twofold:
- By presenting our discoveries in such a way that the recipients get a new understanding of how drugs work and how they are presented and promoted to the public. We reveal the exact effects they have on the body and mind and do this is such a way that people come away from the presentations much more knowledgeable about drugs and get an understanding of exactly why drugs are not a solution their problems.
- To provide people with information regarding peer pressure and how to handle it with simple communication; how to set and achieve goals in life: and other subjects that they can apply to their lives in order to remove the risk of alcohol and drug abuse.
Narconon was founded in 1966 by William Benitez, who was an inmate of Arizona State Prison. Benitez read a book by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and became familiar with Mr. Hubbard’s drug rehabilitation methods. He found that these methods enabled him to attain self-respect, confidence and a worthwhile purpose without drugs. Because of this he founded the organization and dedicated his life to helping others achieve the same result.
Narconon is now a global organization with rehabilitation centres and drug education groups very successfully operating in 55 in countries across the world.
What has been observed
Narconon found that the drug education methods currently in use are not always getting the desired result with children or adults. The use of drugs and alcohol amongst young people is still on the increase and both children and adults, once hooked, find it very difficult to escape the addiction.
Scare tactics have limited use in education and often the lecturer’s viewpoint is enforced on the audience, rather than allowing people to come to a realisation for themselves on the subject of drugs. Whether in parenting or in education, or even in daily living, enforcing a viewpoint more often leads to rebellion rather than to an agreement.
Narconon has also discovered the powerful role of humour in getting through to people. We found out through survey results that the more humour we used, the more dangerous people thought drugs were and the less likely they were to try them. We don’t just tell people to “say no”, we educate them to come to that conclusion on their own.
The basic method used formerly in drug education has been the “scare tactic” approach.
Somehow it never quite worked.
The Narconon presentation is very visual, interactive, humorous and factual. We find, by survey, that the talks have a substantial effect on the attitude of the groups of people who are either undecided about drugs or who think that drugs “aren’t really that bad”. Those who were already against drugs have their existing decision knowledgeably reinforced because they get the information as to WHY they were right. Those who were undecided get the full data to help them make an informed position.
What we talk about:
Talk 1:
Definition of a drug: We have found that most
people, when asked, cannot give a clear definition
of exactly what a drug is. This talk simply clears up
all the confusion that surrounds what drugs are and,
with that basic foundation understood, learning of
the subject becomes straight forward and easy.
Alcohol and commercials: Even though alcohol is
responsible for more deaths than any other drug,
most people don’t consider it to be a drug. This talk
goes through, step by step, how alcohol is made
and why it ends up as a drug. We also take a
look at the different messages used in advertising
campaigns by the industry to
get and keep people drinking alcohol.
The mind: The mind is basically made up of pictures, and all the information that a person uses in one’s life comes straight from these pictures. This talk graphically demonstrates this phenomenon and shows the link between drug use and the blank spots that occur in one’s mind following the taking of drugs. It also covers which drugs actually scramble one’s pictures and how this can lead to further drug abuse.
Talk 2:
Physical addiction. While a person is on drugs and for years after they have stopped, a person’s body gets depleted of certain vitamins and minerals. This causes various aches and pains in the body and as a result the person will continue to use drugs as a method of trying to manage this pain. In this talk we cover what starts physical addiction, what keeps it going and the lengths a person will go to, to try and handle the uncontrollable urges of addiction.
Drugs in the body/Marijuana: Most foods that a person consumes pass through the body roughly within 24 hours. This is not the case for most drugs. It has been proven most drugs stay in the body for a long period of time, sometimes years. These drug residues have a long-term effect while still in the body, for they continue to burn the much-needed vitamins and minerals that the body relies on to function properly.
These drug residues also get released back into the
blood stream at different points in time, and this creates
the urge for more drugs. This talk addresses one
of the key points that keeps a person
addicted to drugs.
Talk 3:
Cigarettes and media: Have you noticed that more and more teenagers are starting to smoke cigarettes for the first time than ever before? In fact, around 700 teenagers try cigarettes for the first time in Australia every day. In this talk we expose the exact methods that the tobacco companies are now using to turn dwindling sales of the past into record sales of the present.
Emotions. People move through different emotions in their daily life and a person’s emotions are greatly affected by the use of drugs.
While most people try to be alive and active, the same cannot be said for a person who is on drugs. As drugs get a tighter grip on a person’s life, they push one’s emotions down into despair, apathy and lifelessness. With a lot of audience participation during this talk, the attendees get to really see how emotionally unstable a drug addict can become.
Group agreement. We take a close look at the issue of peer group pressure, and how on most occasions the decisions made at these times weren’t the most survival choice the person could have made. This talk also lets us have a look at the long-term consequences that result from the
rash decisions a person can make under these circumstances.
Feedback …
What the students have said:
The most frequently seen comments on the surveys taken after the talks are:
“It was funny”
“It wasn’t boring like most other drug talks”
“It was interesting”
“It was educational.” “We learned lots.”
“ I understood all of it”
And other comments such as:
“I knew drugs were bad but now I know why.”
“I will stop taking drugs because of what I have learnt.”
“My thoughts changed a lot during the talk. It will stop me taking drugs when I am older.”
What teachers have said:
“Charlie’s talks have been very informative in content and exceptionally helpful to the students in encouraging them to identify their own values and ability to make healthy choices for themselves.”
“Lots of energy used in a positive way, making it enjoyable to listen to.”
“The children actually learned something – they were not just being preached at.”
“The use of humour was very effective and I could see that the children really got the message.”
At one school, during a parents and students night, the particular comment received was that the talk was very well aimed at the level of the students and equally at the level of the parents.
From the business world:
“A professional presentation of the drug problem and its solution.”
“I thought I knew everything about drugs and I learned a lot more today.”
“The talk was interesting, realistic and easy to listen to. It is different to what is currently being preached by other groups.”
The essential quality about Charlie’s presentation of information is that he just talks directly to people and is well understood. His high interest and energy add to the ease with which people are able to duplicate what he has to say.
