Synanon
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Synanon was initially a drug rehabilitation program founded by Charles Dederich Sr. (1913–1997) in 1958 in Santa Monica, California. By the early 1960s it had become an alternative community as well, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions known as the "Synanon Game". Synanon ultimately became the cultish Church of Synanon in the 1970s and the group disbanded finally in 1989 when the doors were closed by the Internal Revenue Service.
Beginnings
Dederich was a reformed alcoholic and regular attendee at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous who made an impression as a speaker on many attendees. Drug addicts were not accepted into the AA at that time so he created his own program to address their needs.Synanon began as a two-year residential program, but before long Dederich decided that members could never graduate, that full recovery was never possible. The community developed a business selling promotional items, a successful enterprise that generated roughly $10 million per year of revenue. The Club Casa del Mar, a large beachside 1926 hotel in Santa Monica, was purchased and used as a headquarters and dormitory for drug treatment. Children were reared communally in the Synanon School, and juveniles were often sent to Synanon by the courts. Professionals, with and without drug addictions, were eagerly invited and were expected to turn over their assets to the group. Control over members was imposed through the "Synanon Game". The "Synanon Game" could be considered a therapeutic tool, likened to group therapy, a social control, in which members humiliated one another and encouraged the exposure of one's innermost weaknesses, or both [link]. Beginning in the mid 1970s, women were required to shave their heads, married couples were made to break up and take new partners, males were given forced vasectomies, and a few pregnant women were even required to have abortions.
Lifetime rehabilitation concept
Beginning in 1974 the authorities began to question Synanon's promises and practices. The concept of "lifetime rehabilitation" did not agree with therapeutic norms, and it was alleged that the group was running an unauthorized medical clinic, and that on remote properties in California such as Tomales Bay in Marin County and Badger, Tulare County, the organization had built unpermitted buildings, a trash dump, and an airstrip. Tax issues came up. To dodge these accusations Dederich declared that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the "Church of Synanon."The change did not make the problems disappear. Children assigned to Synanon began to run away, helped by an "underground railroad" that sought to return them to their parents. Beatings of opponents and ex-members, "splittees", occurred across the state. A Grand Jury in Los Angeles issued a scathing report in 1978 attacking Synanon for its child abuse and for the profits that flowed to Dederich, and also attacking authorities for their lack of oversight. Remarkably, the authorities still did nothing. Though local newspapers and broadcast media covered the case, they were largely silenced by lawsuits from Synanon lawyers charging libel. Those suits ultimately turned out to be Synanon's undoing, giving journalists access to internal documents.
Criminal behavior
On March 20, 1978, a former member of Synanon was severely beaten (for being a "splittee") during his honeymoon when he took his bride to see where he had once lived on the Walker Creek Ranch.They also beat a neighbouring rancher who was helping children run away from Synanon and return to their parents.
On September 21 two members clubbed nearly to death an ex-member, Phil Ritter, who was a witness for Time magazine. Brain fluid leaked into his spine, and Ritter nearly died of spinal meningitis. He was in a coma for a week.
On October 11, 1978 two Synanon members placed a rattlesnake (rattle removed) in the mailbox of an attorney in Pacific Palisades, California. The victim had successfully sued on behalf of a woman that Synanon had abducted. The lawyer was bitten but survived.
Six weeks later the Los Angeles Police Department performed a search of the ranch in Badger that turned up a recorded speech by Dederich in which he said that ""We're not going to mess with the old-time, turn-the-other-cheek religious postures...our religious posture is: Don't mess with us. You can get killed dead, literally dead...these are real threats," he snarls. "They are draining life's blood from us and expecting us to play by their silly rules. We will make the rules. I see nothing frightening about it...I am quite willing to break some lawyer's legs and next break his wife's legs and threaten to cut their child's arm off. That is the end of that lawyer. That is a very satisfactory, humane way of transmitting information....I really do want an ear in a glass of alcohol on my desk." [link]
A drunken Dederich was arrested on December 2. The two other Synanon residents pleaded "no contest" to charges of assault and conspiracy to murder. While his associates went to jail, Dederich avoided imprisonment by formally stepping down as Chairman of Synanon.
Much of the violence was carried out by a group within Synanon called the "Imperial Marines."
The tiny Point Reyes Light, a weekly newspaper in Marin County, received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1979 on account of its coverage of Synanon when other news outlets avoided covering the group.
Synanon struggled to survive without its leader and with a severely tarnished reputation. The Internal Revenue Service revoked the group's tax exemption and the properties were confiscated or sold. By the mid-1990s the community had essentially folded.
Successes
Despite its faults, the Synanon program worked for many individuals. Among other successes, it is credited with curing (temporarily) heroin-addicted Jazz musicians Art Pepper, Frank Rehak and Joe Pass. The organization was touted by motivational speaker Florrie Fisher in her speeches to high schoolers, and she credited it with curing her of a heroin addiction. It also inspired more moderate, successful programs such as Delancey Street, co-founded by a former Synanon member. Many former members still value the positive aspects of Synanon, primarily its strong sense of community, and remain in close contact, personally or through online chat groups, and some even own businesses together.Synanon in Germany
A branch of Synanon founded in Germany in 1971 is still in operation.Trivia
Charles Dederich is said to have coined the phrase "today is the first day of the rest of your life" [link][link]
Synanon is probably the inspiration for the cult-like rehab program "New Path" in Philip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly.
External links
- [A German offshoot of Synanon], in German.
- [Rick A. Ross Institute (cult research).]
- [A site devoted to Synanon nostalgia, with links to other sites.]
- [The Devil and John Walker] by Paul Morantz (the lawyer targeted for killing by Dederich), an article on brainwashing in coercive groups, including Synanon.
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