Drug Rehab Program Cult

[EyeLick]

A couple of months ago on Facebook, I was placed in a couple of Facebook groups for ex-members of a drug recovery program that I was a part of for a little over a year during high school 1999-2000 - "The Group." I was wondering if anyone else here is a "survivor" of these Bob Meehan affiliated (& Clint Stonebraker, Frank Szatcha) "enthisiastic sobriety" programs such as Pathway (AZ), Crossroads (St Louis), Cornerstone (CO), Insight (Atlanta), etc. What do you think of the cult accusations? (I agree.) And did it have any lasting negative effects on your life? I wasn't in too long and secretly didn't buy into a lot, so I was ok. The "tough love" type of approach made me kind of a dick for a while, but that's about it. Others have been severely damaged by it. Here is a link to a documentary about it.

https://youtu.be.com/BXBLYEeF5vs

And a blog by a guy who ended up being a high ranking staff member.

http://seekingintongues.blogspot.com

 

[cj]

I haven't heard of this particular group but I am familiar with other teen "emotional growth" type boarding schools. I am going to read your links but can you give a quick account of your experience?


Mod note: Moved to the dark side as we felt it fit better here.


Thanks

 

[manboychef]

Yeah I want to know more!!!!

 

[junktree]

DAMN PATHWAYS!!! I was in The Group 2007-2008... they convinced my parents that I needed to "focus more on my sobriety" and the only way that could happen was if I dropped out of highschool! at the time, I was attending NSAA (senior year) and had no desire to drop out... but those shits at Pathway somehow manipulated my parents into forcing me to drop out (I was underage, therefore not in control of my fate).

as far as effectiveness goes? FAIL. I am still getting loaded.

I feel like my life would be completely different if I had never had to join that godforsaken cult.

 

[LifeIsStrange]

That is way why I am staying away from that kind. Our society tells that drugs addicts are weak - but the society is so hard - that most of humans must to take a substance to come down. Let it be alcohol, can, ops - and mostly the drugs from the doctors (60% I personally think.)

ATM I think over 80% in my country is taking drugs. But they call it - my coffee, my beer after work, my cigarette or best of it is from my doctor...

... much blubber - but may be I can you give you a new perspective...

 

[manboychef]

That is way why I am staying away from that kind. Our society tells that drugs addicts are weak - but the society is so hard - that most of humans must to take a substance to come down. Let it be alcohol, can, ops - and mostly the drugs from the doctors (60% I personally think.)

ATM I think over 80% in my country is taking drugs. But they call it - my coffee, my beer after work, my cigarette or best of it is from my doctor...

... much blubber - but may be I can you give you a new perspective...

so true...they make money off the stigmatization of certain substances. Imposing will that should definitly be left up to real professionals. Abstinence is not sobriety...if I didnt have my benzos I could not function. I have severe disorders that it sounds like these people would not address.

 

[nuttynutskin]

Never heard of those, although that made me think of Scientology's rehab Narconon...

 

[yvngplsvr]

Sorry to bump a dead thread, but I was in for almost 2 years. I'd love to talk with you guys about it if you'd like to know anything or just shoot the shit about meehan and stonebraker and szachta being asswipes

 

[manboychef]

Yes I would love to hear about your experience. I have been to three rehabs. One of them was terrible. Greenbriar in PA. They didn't even have enough food for everyone.

Please post your story here youngplayer./

 

[My3sons]

That's really interesting. I've researched drug stuff and have had stuff pop up where someone's tried to talk to me to "help" I just closed the boxes out. Makes me wonder now if it was their recruiters.

 

[My3sons]

How do these places not get shut down? How can you cover up deaths with today's technology

 

[MrRoot]

Sadly many drug addicts won't have anyone asking the right questions from the authorities and this is why they won't get right screenings taken during autopsy. Most people are already accepted the fact that their relatives who use might just drop dead accidentally some day and don't care to ask for more info on what really happened.

 

[manboychef]

Money corrupts all. Chances are that bob meehan was donating or paying kickbacks to the people that run the licensing departments./

 

[Chosenone23]

Been to Narconon definantly cult like atmosphere seeing it from the outside looking in I guess places like that have money coming in somewhere and as long as the states getting paid they could really careless about what goes on rehabs like that just get your money then send you back out waiting for you to relapse and right back w the $$$

 

[ChickenScratch]

Funny, I?ve been a member of BL for a while and I just came across this while going down a Bob Meehan wormhole on the Internet.
I was sent from Atlanta Insight in 97 out to Arizona for Pathways. I was 17, but I knew the whole thing was a scam.

I wasn?t a terribly fucked up kid, but dabbled in all the normal shit....some coke, L, mushrooms, etc. Full time pothead, but that?s about it. To this day, 21 years later, I think my parents overreacted by sending me to rehab and they now admit that they did.

I suppose if you were in the program for a long time, I could see how it could fuck someone up. Me, I was there for about 6 months before bailing to do a summer of phish tour before going back to Atlanta to finish high school and get on with college.

Anyhoo.....it didn?t fuck me up, but I do remember some key things that just didn?t seem normal.

They sheltered me from my own parents who had put me there in the first place. I was allowed to see them once in the six months I was there. They talked down about them and, even though I was angry with my parents at the time, it pissed me off. It wasn?t just my parents, they sheltered you from anyone that wasn?t in the group. I was concerned about finishing high school, but they didn?t give a fuck about that. I wanted a job, but they just told me to ask for more money from my parents.

Every chance they got, they told me how fucked up I was and what a total addict I was. They tried to make that seem like it was some sort of badge of honor. But I knew damn well I wasn?t an addict, I was middle class white boy who dabbled in drugs who?s straight laced parents bought into the whole thing.

We did a lot of fucked up shit in that program. Stayed out all night and had a general disrespect for authority. Vandalized some shit and were pretty wreckless. But, in their eyes, as long as you were sober and with other people from the program, that shit was okay.

Pretty crazy. In the end, I?m glad Bob?s empire crashed. He was a narcissistic racist that was cashing big checks on those who were ignorant to drugs (ie: my parents).

Looking back, I?m glad I bailed and didn?t get sucked in, but I feel for those who did. I?m sitting here responsibly enjoying a nice glass of wine and have a wonderful life.

I don?t know if programs like this are prevalent these days, but if you?re struggling with addiction, make sure you do your research before getting involved in groups like this.

I?m not sure if this is any good, but I?m about to watch it....

https://youtu.be/BXBLYEeF5vs

 

[cj]

How do these places not get shut down? How can you cover up deaths with today's technology

Lack of regulation. If a place claims to be Christian they can avoid most any regulation

 

[herbavore]

I'm scared with all the hype of the opiate epidemic that we are going to be seeing a lot more of these types of places.

 

[Trabbamab]

I know this is an older thread but wow....I peripherally knew a couple of teens who got sent to Insight in Atlanta. I had no idea this place was a cult-like rehab center. Over the years I have heard of some very suspect and even downright illegal addiction programs. I am going to check out the documentaries listed here to learn more about them, mostly due to curiosity over what was going on Insight.

EDIT: By the way, the links the OP gave did not work for me when directly clicking on them. However, if you take the end URL segment (like "BXBLYEeF5vs") and then pull up another YouTube video and paste it over the code in "/watch?vfjdn442Dh", then come up. It seems either this URL shortener isn't around anymore or some other connection along the way is gone or changed. But the videos are still there.

 

[cj]

I'm scared with all the hype of the opiate epidemic that we are going to be seeing a lot more of these types of places.

I keep seeing commercials for teen challenge. A year long work program associated with many abuses

 

[LopLover]

I keep seeing commercials for teen challenge. A year long work program associated with many abuses

Teen Challenge is very heavily "evangelical" or Pentecostal or some combination of the two. Some time a while back they started taking adults as well as teens. The teen ones get money from the families, but the adult ones put the people to work on "missionary" programs for their church. They go to poor places, mostly in the US, and do manual labor for no money, just "room and board." And yes, there have been many documented abuses, both to children and adults. Anything that claims it's affiliated with a "church" of any kind, including Scientology, gets out of any licensing requirements.

Narconon, the Scientology excuse for a rehab, has killed a shitload of people, mostly either detoxing people cold-turkey with "vitamins" and sweat baths, or suicide from taking people off their psychotropic medications. They don't believe in psychiatric medication for anyone in any circumstances; they claim that Scientology can cure ALL mental illness. I guess dead people are "cured" of their depression or psychosis, making their claim technically true.