The Church of Scientology is 50 years old this year, having survived its skeptics and detractors, an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and John Travolta's box-office flop, "Battlefield Earth," based on a science fiction novel by the church's founder L. Ron Hubbard. The church's 50th anniversary makes it a young religion as far as religions go but also attests to its staying power. According to Scientology headquarters in Los Angeles, the church now claims more than 8 million members in ...

In the media business, small- and medium-size processors are changing with the times. Requirements of these smaller firms differ from those of major optical-media players such as Technicolor, Cinram, Ritek, Sonopress and Sony. Suppliers see a trend for the smaller firms to invest in faster systems for disc replication and, in some cases, a transition away from tape duplication. Some have selected Toyo, Netstal or Sumitomo machines for the molding aspect of an advanced optical-media manufacturing line. Production system supplier M2 ...

After a lifetime playing wholesome, all-American heroes, Tom Cruise has finally discovered his dark side. He's also ditched his publicist, moved in with his sisters and is looking for the third Mrs Cruise. So is Hollywood's leading man having a middle-youth crisis? Interview by Neil Strauss [Picture: "What sinister ambitions lie concealed behind that smile? ... Tom Cruise. Photograph: Domenico Stinellis / AP"] Want to meet my mom?' Tom Cruise asks as we walk through the halls of the Celebrity Center, ...

For obvious reasons, the lauding of religious leaders isn’t supposed to be practiced in U.S. public schools, at least not as a class activity. Yet one widely used school program concludes by having students applaud Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The program is called Narconon, and it has notable Scientology links. The state of California is now in the midst of a three-month investigation of the Narconon Drug Prevention and Education program with an eye to possibly barring it from the ...

An anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology will be barred from San Francisco classrooms because of concerns about its scientific accuracy, city schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman said Tuesday. Ackerman's decision followed a review of the Narconon Drug Prevention & Education Program by school health officials, who found that some of its teachings were not "100 percent accurate." "We are going to withhold the opportunity for Narconon to be in our schools," Ackerman said as thousands of students prepared ...

A local lawyer and political consultant are hired to help break down barriers for Scientology. It was a sticky decision and everyone in the room knew it. Bennetta Slaughter, the charismatic businesswoman whose tireless committee work had impressed so many, was being nominated to the Clearwater Regional Chamber of Commerce board of directors. "Do we really want one on the board?" several asked. By "one" they meant: a Scientologist. Board members worried that the chamber's rank and file might quit in ...

The Church of Scientology's new Buffalo headquarters is a work of love. A lot of love. When the doors opened on the historic Main Street building last November, it marked both the completion of a cycle for the late-1800s building and a new chapter for the religious order. That both intersect, is in itself, sort of divine intervention with everything lining up the right way at the right time. "You could say we've put the building back to its original use," ...

WATSONVILLE — A woman who says she was raped at a drug-treatment center has sued Narconon of Northern California and its parent company, Narconon International, alleging she was assaulted by a staff member while undergoing treatment in November 2003. The suit alleges that when notified of the assault, staff at the Watsonville treatment center failed to respond in an appropriate manner and took the unidentified, out-of-state woman out of treatment. The Sentinel is not identifying the plaintiff because of the nature ...

State schools chief Jack O'Connell has asked a research group known for its rigorous reviews of health curriculum to spend three months evaluating the Narconon anti-drug program, whose classroom instruction has been linked to the Church of Scientology. At a press conference today in East Los Angeles, O'Connell will announce that the California Healthy Kids Resource Center, a public agency in Hayward, will look at what Narconon is teaching thousands of students in its hourlong presentations at dozens of schools each ...

Los Angeles school officials are warning campuses not to use a drug prevention program linked to the Church of Scientology while California's schools chief has ordered an investigation to determine whether the anti-drug presentations are scientifically sound and free from the religion's influence. The target of the district and state actions is Narconon, a drug prevention and rehabilitation program that bases its ideas partly on the research and controversial teachings of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Narconon has conducted educational assemblies ...

Supporters of an anti-drug program with ties to the Church of Scientology addressed the San Francisco Board of Education on Tuesday night in attempt to show the value of keeping the program intact in the city's public schools. Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, created by the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, has presented anti-drug lectures in San Francisco's public schools for 13 years. But after stories in The Chronicle raised questions about the science behind the teachings and the presence ...

School district officials in Los Angeles have ordered a review of an anti-drug program whose teachings are linked with the Church of Scientology and are warning teachers that its instruction "is not based on science." Los Angeles is the second district in the state to scrutinize Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, which reaches thousands of students in at least 20 California districts and has provided lectures in schools across the country for two decades. Earlier this month, San Francisco schools Superintendent ...

Four of the 25 cities selected by federal Drug Czar John Walters as focal points for a national campaign to reduce demand for and abuse of drugs in the United States are in California. According to a chart on illicit drug use among the 25 cities nationwide (www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov), San Francisco had the second highest rate of drug-related emergency-room admissions (8,575) and drug-related arrests (14,351). But one does not need to look at a chart. Walking down the street, stepping over homeless ...

THE CONSEQUENCES of illicit drugs are so dangerous and well- documented it's unnecessary – perhaps even foolish – to embellish on the inevitable outcomes for those reckless enough to abuse them. Drugs can cause immense physical, mental and emotional damage for users, and immeasurable suffering for families and friends, too. Clearly, the best defense against substance abuse is education and examples to illustrate the personal devastation. That's why the uproar over Narconon Drug Prevention and Education, the popular anti-drug program that ...

The driver, a Church of Scientology employee, says the man ran at the bus; others disagree. CLEARWATER — A Largo man remained in serious condition at Bayfront Medical Center on Wednesday, a day after being struck by a Church of Scientology bus in downtown Clearwater. The bus driver, an employee of the church's Flag Service Organization in Clearwater, told church officials the injured man ran at the moving bus and punched a window before slipping under it, according to church spokesman ...

California's top educator said Wednesday that he has ordered the state Department of Education to investigate an antidrug program used by schools around the state whose teachings have been linked with the Church of Scientology. State schools Superintendent Jack O'Connell said the investigation could lead to an order barring schools from using the program, called Narconon Drug Prevention and Education. The popular program, based in Hollywood, has provided antidrug instruction in schools around the country for more than two decades. Narconon ...

Narconon responds Editor – Your article on the Narconon drug rehabilitation and prevention program correctly describes certain components of this mainstream social-educational model ("Scientology linked to public schools," June 9). However, your interpretation and oversimplification of the science behind this program does addiction medicine a disservice. I was asked to be Narconon International Science Advisory Board medical director as a result of having personally treated thousands of people with the Hubbard body detoxification protocol. Literally thousands of enrolling Narconon clients have ...

Pseudoscience and misinformation plague many efforts to keep young people off drugs. These errors destroy our credibility with teens and sabotage drug-abuse prevention immensely. As Nanette Asimov documented in The Chronicle ("What Narconon tells students," June 9) our children hear outrageous ideas as early as the third grade. My personal favorite: Drugs will store in your fat cells forever but niacin and saunas will release their remnants as colored ooze. Programs that rely on lies such as these make me very ...

Tom Cruise inaugurated a Scientology-based detoxification program on Long Island, N.Y., on Wednesday aimed at treating rescue workers exposed to caustic materials after 9/11, according to published reports. "It's been almost three years since the attacks, and thousands are still suffering," Cruise, who co-founded the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, is quoted as saying by Britain's BBC and France's Agence France-Presse. "That's unacceptable to me, to these heroes, and to their families." The center is the second to be sponsored ...

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 ...

As early as the third grade, students in S.F. and elsewhere are subtly introduced to church's concepts via anti-drug teachings A popular anti-drug program provided free to schools in San Francisco and elsewhere teaches concepts straight out of the Church of Scientology, including medical theories that some addiction experts described as "irresponsible" and "pseudoscience." As a result, students are being introduced to somebeliefs and methods of Scientology without their knowledge. Anyone listening to a classroom talk by Narconon Drug Prevention & ...

Narconon's school program sends students a strong anti-drug message about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana in grades three to 12 and about harder drugs in the upper grades. The program's instructors tell kids that drugs are poison. But here are some other things they tell kids about addiction, which the medical experts interviewed by The Chronicle rejected as not scientifically based: – Drugs – including ecstasy, LSD and marijuana – accumulate indefinitely in body fat, where they cause recurring drug cravings for ...

For a second or so the needle proceeds smoothly along the dial. I watch its progress while clutching two can-shaped metal devices, wired to the small machine housing the dial. Suddenly, the needle jerks violently. 'What was that?' asks Janet Laveau, head of the UK Office of Special Affairs, the Church of Scientology's PR machine. I'm disturbed and temporarily impressed - the needle jumped just as I was thinking of a friend who is seriously depressed. How could the machine 'know' ...

Fears have been sparked about the intentions of an anti-drugs talk in Markbeech after it turned out to be led by people with links to a controversial group. Geraldine Ormond, the organiser of the hour-long lecture last week, admitted she would not have got involved if she had known the main speaker was linked to the Church of Scientology. However, she said the talk did not peddle the group's beliefs and only one leaflet which was handed out made reference to ...

A former member and longtime critic of the Church of Scientology has been ordered by a Marin County judge to pay the church $500,000 for speaking out against the controversial religious movement. Superior Court Judge Lynn Duryee issued that order in a breach-of-contract lawsuit against Scientology defector Gerald Armstrong. The Church of Scientology had sought $10 million from Armstrong, who joined the church in 1969, left the fold in 1981 and later became one of the movement's harshest critics. He was ...

A DRUG counselling group linked to the controversial Church of Scientology has been banned from Edinburgh University's student union. The organisation called Narconon put up posters about its services on Edinburgh Student Association (EUSA) notice boards without permission. Now union officials have pulled the posters down and outlawed any further adverts being displayed. They are concerned Narconon may be used to recruit new members for Scientology, which has often targeted students in the Capital. The Narconon posters contain no references to ...