At the end of April 2007 I searched the internet for drug rehab that wouldn't be too far away for my 30 year old son that had relapsed after 4 years. He agreed to go for help. Narconon Stone Hawk came up with the beautiful lake side setting, and describing this oasis for our son. A 70% success rate, counciling, a magic sauna treatment, and a no drug detox. Our son had already been through a detox here locally, but knew he needed further help. We thought a 4-6 month program would really help him get on his feet, and get healthy. After emailing Stone Hawk, I got a call from an intake councelor (Nic Behner) and after talking to me for approx. 45 minutes, had me believing this was the place our son needed to go. He told me he was a former student there (6 months prior had graduated), and how it saved his life. When I found out the cost I was overwhelmed, but thought if it saves my sons life, its worth it. I told him I had to talk it over with my ex husband, and I would get back with him. My ex and I felt we had no choice. Nic called me again, and I told him that we would bring our son. He called several times over the next week. I told him that our son agreed to come, but wanted to go the following week, and this bothered Nic. He really put pressure on us to bring him right away, and said he could relapse, or worse, die. After that he said they only had 2 open beds and if I wanted to insure our son to have a place, I would have to put down a $5,000 deposit. Again, I didn't feel comfortable doing that on my credit card, but agreed. The following Monday May 7,2007, we drove 3 hours to Stone Hawk, and was met by Nic. At no time did we ever meet anyone of authority, like an admistrator, or someone with the finance department. Only saw former students working there. We were given the mini tour (caferteria, and outside), due to privacy of the students. We were then taken into a locked room, and at that point shown the student rules, and the contract. Again, I'm getting a bad feeling due to the way it's all being done. We find out if our son leaves after two weeks, whether by choice, or dismissed, we lose 15,000., and 1,,000.00 per day after that. Nic then informed us that we needed another 500.00 to put into an emergency medical account for our son, and he would also need some money in his personal student account. Again, nothing said about this until that moment. When we drove away that day, I was feeling so emotional, and uneasy about everything, but felt this is hopefully answer to our prayer. Our son went through the detox part very well, since he had already done it back home. I talked to him after he got out of detox, and he was fine, and said he wanted to graduate from the program. I talked to him a couple more times over the next two weeks, and everything was fine, except they were pushing L.Ron Hubbard in classes. He said he was enjoying the sauna part of the program. Then on May 31,2007 (25 days after starting) I got a call from my son saying he was done, and he was leaving Stone Hawk. I was in shock, and asked what happened? He told me that the staff said he and a female student were too close, and felt they were having inappropriate contact. He said he and a female student were good friends, and talked alot. He said they wanted to move them to two different facilities, and by then being young and bullheaded, they both said no, and that they were going to leave. My sons PSS (staff councelor) called me and asked me if I had talked to my son, and I said yes. I asked him what was going on, and he told me the same story. He said they thought the two had had sex, but couldn't prove it. At that point he told me that they probably started getting close in sauna. I asked him," you let the males and females in sauna together"? He said yes. They asked me if I wanted my son to stay, and I told him "of course I do". The next phone call I recieved was at 10pm that night from my son. He was calling me from a pay phone in downtown Battle Creek MI. He needed a ride home. They wanted to put in a motel (w/$10.00), and let him think about his actions, and he refused, so after trying to get him to stay, they let him sign himself out. Then they had 3 staff men follow him out the door, and down the road, then told him if he stepped back on the property, they would call the police. Here he was in a city where he didn't know anyone, it was night time, no money, no cell phone, and oh well. He found a payphone, called me, and I in turn called his dad. His father drove 3 hours and found our son at 2am in the morning. By this time the girl he had met, had signed herself out too, and she had found our son. My ex had to deal with this at 2 am. The next day I finally get a call from someone in the admistration, after my ex walks into the office. Now, they wanted to try to talk to these two , and get them to come back. There would have been so many ways to prevent something like this happening. Per Wickstrom, Daniel Greene, will not return my calls, and I even sent a registered letter to Per telling him I wanted the majority of my money back. He refused it. Jai Elhart has contacted me, and has tried to be friendly, but it's all a big fraud. Why in the world would you put males and females in a hot sauna for hours a day, in swimsuits? They sit there sweating, talking, bonding, and for people with addictive personalities, it's a disaster waiting to happen. When I told Jai about this, he told me that they like to treat the students like the real world, and I said their there because they aren't ready for the real world. They set them up, and when they fail, they have our money, and a new bed opens up. Thats another thing! Remember they said they only had two beds available to get me to send the deposit. My son said there were two empty beds in his room when he first got there, and one was still empty when he left. The female that left said there were always empty beds, and the day they left two other students left. She found out when she signed out that 18 students had signed out of there in May. I've written the attorney general, the governor of Michigan, emailed Vince Daniels, and had correspondence with Dave Touretzky. Dave had given me some help, via, ideas, etc. Today, I got a certified letter from Narconon Stone Hawk offering me 2900.00 (of my 27,900) if I signed a no fault letter. I called the girl on the letter, and of course got her voice mail. I said absolutely not. I want the majority of my money back, and don't know where else to turn. Any ideas? I did get a card back from the attorney generals office telling me that they have recieved my compaint, and they would be looking into it. I'll probably have to hire an attorney, but I'm not giving up. Thank you for listening. Linda

God bless you. I can only imagine how stressful this situation is for you right now. Actually, my mother and father went through this same senario about 7 years ago with me. My father did request a refund and I believe he was refunded a portion of the initial payment.

I wish people did more research into the controversial natures of the Narconon program before they go forward with putting their loved ones into the facility. Now, I will say that you should not blame yourself for the way things went down. In the midst of an addiction crisis, the family becomes willing to go to any lengths to get help for their loved ones. And for that I commend you.

How is your son doing? Is he staying clean and sober? Has he become involved in the recovery community in your area? These are critical steps that will be required of him if he is a real addict.

Good luck and welcome to the forum. There is a lot of helpful information here. But I will warn you that by the time you are finished reading it all, you might feel even further duped by Narconon. Whatever the case is.. welcome.

mr.mac ;)