A couple of years ago, I was heading up to Washington State on the train. I got talking to a woman who was on her way to Seattle, and we hit it off. Ours was one of those encounters where, at the end, you swap phone numbers and never call. Not this time, we've been in contact ever since; deep sea fishing, going out, having fun.

She works for a mobile TV studio. Somehow the topic of celebrities came up, and Tom Cruise was mentioned. She was very interested in the Scientology aspect, so I spent some time telling her what I know.

She attended a couple of talks given on Scientology, and has become pretty knowledgable.

So last year, I get a call from her. It seems her niece got into meth; driving across the country to California, where she stayed with my friend for a while, then up and moved into her car in Anaheim. At some point, the young woman accidentally shot herself with a handgun, in the Disneyland parking lot. At this point, her mother realized how very serious this girl's problem with drugs had become, and started looking for a treatment center online.

Of course you know that NarCONon has a huge web presence. It is, after all, Scientology's premiere secular product. Many of their sites pose as "informational," giving information on various drugs, but steering those seeking treatment only to NarCONon, even though it is not specifically mentioned on the pages.

Lisa's sister found Narconon online, and she called the Newport Beach facility. The guy who answered was hyperfriendly, and oh, so excited that her daughter was going to get help. He was so excited about it that he started calling every day to find out if the girl was out of the hospital yet, and ready to start treatment. Lisa's sister thought this was a little strange.

So Lisa was talking to her sister one day, or rather, listening to her sister's litany of woe, and she perked up when NarCONon was mentioned. She told her sister it was a scam, and directed her to the Narconon Exposed website.

The sister was horrified, and immediately looked around for a legitimate treatment center. When the guy from Narconon called again, he was told that there was no way the girl was going there, period.

If more people did some web research, rather than rely on the slick talkers and glossy brochures Narconon offers, they'd be out of business in no time.