Word: synanon
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Close to 90% of drug addicts at federal hospitals suffer relapses once they are released. At Synanon, a privately run California halfway house for narcotics users, a combination of selfhelp, trust and group therapy has lowered the figure to as little as 20%. So successful is Synanon that five affiliates have sprung up across the U.S. Nonetheless, California Narcotic Authority agents raided Synanon's beach-front building in Santa Monica last month and removed Alyce Mae Walker, 27, and Richie Marks, 34, two of the 700 voluntary inmates...
Both Marks and Walker were on parole from California's Narcotic Rehabilitation Center at Corona. From Synanon, they were driven to a nearby state narcotics center and ordered to take tests that would determine whether they were "clean." Under California law, narcotics parolees are subject to periodic surprise testing. On the advice of Synanon's lawyers, Walker and Marks refused to take the test; their paroles were revoked, and they were sent back to Corona to serve out their full terms...
Matter of Morale. Underlying the highly publicized raid was a long-running Synanon campaign to establish complete jurisdiction over its patients, free of state control. Dr. Victor Vogel, chairman of the Narcotic Authority, finally felt compelled to carry the law's test requirements. By rounding up the two parolees, he hoped to establish that his agency has authority over all civilly committed addicts in the state-including those at Synanon. But Synanon President Jack Hurst, 36, believes that a California Court of Appeals has excused his parolee patients from further "clean" tests. He has advised them not to submit...
...real 1984 situation," says Hurst, who is convinced that the morale of every Synanon resident has been damaged by the removal of Walker and Marks. "Morale here is very important. You've got to bare your soul, rebuild your whole personality in a demanding two-or three-year process. For it to work, you've got to feel completely safe...
Walker and Marks were denied a petition for habeas corpus last month, but they remain loyal to Synanon and still refuse to be tested. "I need Synanon," says Alyce Mae, the mother of two children. Adds Richie, a jazz musician: "If I just went back on the street, I'd be back on drugs in no time...