Four more Santa Clara County schools are closing because of concerns about possible swine flu infections, county health officials said today. They are not expected to open until Monday, May 11, according to county health officials. Among those closing is Rucker Elementary, a K-5 school near Gilroy. At least one child at the school, and possibly others, are being tested for swine flu, Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent Deborah Flores wrote in a message posted on the district's Web site. "In ...

It looks like the Church of Scientology will be out in force to protest the upcoming American Psychiatric Association Annual Meeting in San Francisco next month. The Citizens Commission on Human Rights, Scientology's anti-psychiatry activist arm, will apparently be setting up their "Psychiatry: An Industry of Death" exhibit next to the Moscone Center for the duration of the convention. How do we know? The flier above was discovered by Anonymous, the masked shock troops who sprang from the Internet over a ...

The smiling photo of Gavin Newsom and the city seal emblazoned on a booklet called "The Way to Happiness" sure make it seem as though San Francisco's mayor is heartily endorsing Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard's writings. The booklet's back cover even shows a letter of support purportedly written by Newsom that echoes some of the mayor's favorite buzzwords: San Francisco is "a city of innovation" and is "the finest city in the world." But the giveaway is in the second ...

SAN FRANCISCO — The city of San Francisco has ordered a Scientology group to stop using a picture of Mayor Gavin Newsom on its promotional materials. A group called the Way to Happiness Foundation International sent a box full of booklets to Newsom's City Hall office describing some of Scientology's core principles. The pamphlets came emblazoned with the seal of the city of San Francisco and featured a picture of a smiling Newsom with a fictitious letter from him. The president ...

Movie star Tom Cruise has won the support of hundreds of emergency workers in New York, after he hosted a $6,250-a-ticket benefit in the city Thursday night to raise funds for his controversial Sept. 11 detoxification program. The New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project, which was co-founded by Cruise, is based on principals developed by Scientology leader L. Ron Hubbard. The free treatment involves large doses of vitamins, dietary adjustments and stints in a sauna. Among attendees at the high-profile event ...

San Francisco's North Beach, the city's bohemian quarter, has said "no" to chain stores through zoning laws to preserve the quirky, colorful character found in its cafes, clothing shops, bookstores and nightclubs. Now, some merchants and the supervisor whose district includes North Beach are eyeing a new land-use restriction to block a real estate acquisition being considered by the Church of Scientology, whose religious marketing practices strike some as inconsistent with the neighborhood's live-and-let-live ways. "I think it is a real ...

After years of conflict, the church and the media seem to have reached a truce. Is it because Scientology has become less confrontational — or because the press is scared? For anyone interested in the Church of Scientology, the May 6, 1991, issue of Time magazine remains a milestone in news coverage. For those who back the church, it ran an outrageously biased account that eventually led to a libel suit by the church — later dismissed — and prompted Scientology ...

[...] Clarification: A story in Sunday's Chronicle about the California Medical Association adopting a resolution supporting schools that have dropped "factually inaccurate approaches" to anti-drug instruction should have more fully explained how the organization arrived at its decision. The process began with the San Francisco Medical Association drafting a resolution supporting school districts that have dropped an anti-drug program provided by Narconon, an organization with ties to the Church of Scientology. The resolution, which concluded that Narconon's program was based on ...

The California Medical Association has declared unanimous support for school districts that have dropped Narconon and other "factually inaccurate approaches" to antidrug instruction from their classrooms, and will urge the American Medical Association to do the same. Nearly 500 California doctors also endorsed "scientifically based drug education in California schools" at the association's annual meeting in Anaheim on Monday. Narconon, a drug education program with links to the Church of Scientology, is offered free to schools and has been used in ...

Narconon program has proven success For years an enemy has insidiously attacked us in Hawaii – drugs and drug abuse. Our keiki, neighbors, co-workers, our ohana have been grabbed by this monster and dragged down into the depths of human experience. No one is immune. It is hard to confront. Confronting a family member strung out on meth, I would not wish on anyone. Watching children get lured by advertising into the clutches of "innocent drugs" such as alcohol or marijuana ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 & ...