Origins
of the Narconon Program
The term "Narconon" refers to both the Narconon® Drug
Rehabilitation Program and the network of over 50 Rehabilitation
and Education Centers operating in over 20 countries to date. The
word "Narconon" is derived from the Greek narco- for narcotics
and -non for none and gives us a good idea of what the Narconon
Program means to do: To help those suffering from addiction lead
a life free of all drugs.
The Narconon Program has it’s roots in the Arizona
State Penitentiary. In 1966, an inmate and life-long heroin addict,
William Benitez began to develop the idea when he jumped from his
prison bunk and made a note on his wall calendar that read, "Decision
to set up Narcotic Foundation." After reading books by many different
authors about addiction, psychology and human ability, Benitez discovered
a book passed on to him by a friend, Fundamentals of Thought,
by L. Ron Hubbard. In that book he had found that by rehabilitating
an addict and developing within him certain abilities that
he had lacked, one could effectively stay off drugs.
After several attempts at getting prison official's
approval to start a program inside the prison, on 19 February 1966,
William Benitez had founded NARCONON.
Mr. Benitez first demonstrated The
Narconon Program's effectiveness to the prison officials, then
on his release later
that year helped grow the Narconon Program to include residential
centers first in Los Angeles, California and then worldwide. Today
there are Narconon residential programs in over 20 countries, and
Narconon’s sister program, Criminon continues to grow inside
the walls of prisons across the country.
I finally realized I had developed the essential
abilities needed to overcome my drug problem. Feeling myself on
safe ground, I knew I had to make this technology available to
other addicts in the prison. I thought back over the years of all
the junkies I had shot up with, and remembered their most treasured
conversation: “One of these days I’m going to quit.”
-William Benitez Founder of Narconon
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