City of Boston, Department of Health and Hospitals

October 8, 1972

To those concerned:

It is a truism, perhaps, that there are as many viewpoints on drugs as there are drug-takers; by drugs one may include those chemicals such as LSD, marijuana, peyote, heroin, various glues, etc., as well as the more commonly accepted ones, alcohol, aspirin, nicotine, caffeine, sleeping pills, and the sundry prescribed (physician sanctioned, therefore legitimized) psychotropic medications. One can, though, discern two rather broad groups, among the plurality that exists:

1. Those who use drugs as relief from a variety of stressful personal, mental and physical conditions.
2. Those who use drugs for release, or to provide transcendent experiences beyond the confines of a restrictive awareness and worldview.

Within these two groups there are two further sub-groups:

1. Those who have experienced dissatisfaction with the limitations of drugs and the chemical way of life. These are generally open to (and in fact often desperately searching for) other modes of accomplishing their purposes.
2. Those who see no alternative for, and in fact have committed themselves (at least for a time) to drugs as necessities for survival. These are more often living hidden, rather marginal lives, or are involuntarily caught in legal or medical reform measures (jail, mental hospitals, and other enforced “therapies.”)

We can really only encourage group B to take a closer look at the consequences of drugs in their lives, and in the lives of those connected to them. At the same time without indulging in wholesale self-righteous moral indignation or condemnation, we have the obligation to enact non-punitive legislation, and adopt policies to handle the effects of drugged behavior, where it impinges on our lives and the survival of that which is best in our culture.

To the increasingly visible group A it is incumbent upon us to provide assistance which:

1. meets their basic needs
2. uses methods which do not create a last state worse than the first
3. has competent, ethical, service-oriented leaders
4. has demonstrated success in the drug-free restoration of personally creative, happy and responsible lives.

For those who are searching for a group which meets these requirements, I strongly and warmly recommend Narconon for their consideration. Narconon utilizes a range of techniques which not only provide relief for stress-filled lives, but open up personal awareness to spheres of experience which are quite extraordinary and which exceed the drug “trip” without the danger of loss of control. It has indeed been gratifying to see those who were formerly trapped and paralyzed in the morass of today’s chemical feast, free themselves with the aid of these methods and start afresh to create personally and socially constructive lives - lives which reflect and expand on all that was best in their former way of living.

Narconon’s purpose is not the eradication of drugs or drug-takers; it is rather to provide each individual affected by the drug experience with another way of knowing, experiencing and understanding themselves and life, so that the confident pursuit of goals can resume, and the quest for fulfillment of potential can be realized.

The Narconon program and it’s dedicated staff deserve the widest possible support and encouragement for expansion of services.

Very truly yours,

(signed)

Stephen M. Sherrill

Alcoholism Rehabilitation Program

Long Island Chronic Disease Hospital