Synanon

Synanon was initially a drug rehabilitation program founded by Charles "Chuck" 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 permanently in 1989 due to difficulties with the Internal Revenue Service.

Beginnings

Dederich was a reformed alcoholic and member of Alcoholics Anonymous. He made a positive impression as a speaker at A.A. meetings. Drug addicts, because they were considered significantly different from alcoholics, were not accepted into A.A. at that time, so Dederich created his own program to address their needs. He is said to have coined the phrase "today is the first day of the rest of your life" In 1965 Columbia Pictures produced Synanon, directed by Richard Quine, starring Edmond O'Brien as Chuck Dederich, with Chuck Connors, Stella Stevens, Richard Conte, and Eartha Kitt. (See Template:Imdb title.)

Synanon began as a two-year residential program, but Dederich soon concluded that, because full recovery was never possible, members could never graduate. The organization developed a business that sold promotional items, a successful enterprise that generated roughly $10 million per year of revenue.

Synanon purchased the Club Casa del Mar, a large beachside 1926 hotel in Santa Monica, and used it as a headquarters and dormitory for drug treatment. Subsequently, Synanon acquired a large industrial building in Oakland, California, transforming it into a residential facility for its members; outsiders were permitted to attend the "Game" there as well. Children were reared communally in the Synanon School and juveniles were often sent to Synanon by the courts. Professionals, even those without drug addictions, were eagerly invited, provided they transferred their assets to the organization. Control over members occurred through the "Synanon Game." The "Game" could be considered a therapeutic tool, likened to group therapy; or a social control, in which members humiliated one another and encouraged the exposure of one's innermost weaknesses, or both. 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. George Lucas needed many people with shaved heads in order to film THX 1138, so he hired some of his extras from Synanon. Robert Altman hired members of Synanon as extras for gambling scenes in his 1974 film California Split.

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 arose. In response to these accusations, Dederich declared that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the "Church of Synanon."

The problems remained despite the changes. Children assigned to Synanon began running 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 refused to intercede. 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 show her 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.

In the summer of 1978 NBC produced a "hard hitting" news segment on Synanon. Following its broadcast, executives of the network and its corporate chairman received hundreds of threats from Synanon members and supporters, including letters that said, "Your actions place you in legal and physical peril" and "We are going to teach you a lesson you will never forget."

On September 21 1978 ex-member Phil Ritter, was beaten into a coma by two members, which lasted for one week. Fluid leaked into his spine causing a near fatal case of spinal meningitis.

Several weeks later, October 11 1978, two Synanon members placed a de-rattled rattlesnake in the mailbox of attorney Paul Morantz in Pacific Palisades, California. Morantz had successfully brought suit on behalf of a woman abducted by Synanon. The snake bit Morantz but did not kill him.

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, ""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."

A drunken Dederich was arrested on December 2. The two other Synanon residents, one of whom was Lance Kenton, son of musician Stan Kenton, pleaded "no contest" to charges of assault and conspiracy to commit 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 heroin-addicted jazz musicians Frank Rehak, Joe Pass and Art Pepper (Pepper discusses his Synanon experiences at length in his autobiography Straight Life), and actor Matthew "Stymie" Beard. In 1962 Pass formed a band made up of Synanon patients who recorded an album titled, The Sounds of Synanon. 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 John Maher, 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.

A branch of Synanon founded in Germany in 1971 is still in operation.

Popular depictions

Synanon is referenced in the Bob Dylan song "Lenny Bruce," from his 1981 album Shot of Love. Producer/writer J. Michael Straczynski used a version of the Synanon Game in his Science Fiction series Babylon 5 (episode "Signs and Portents"). The New-Path drug treatment centers in Phillip K. Dick's novel A Scanner Darkly bear numerous similarities to Synanon.

See also

• attack therapy
• List of groups referred to as cults
• Human potential movement
• Narconon, an unrelated group
• Prop 36

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.
• Szalavitz, Maia (2007-08-20). "The Cult That Spawned the Tough-Love Teen Industry". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2007-09-19.