Narconon Solution at Rikers Island Correctional Facility New York
THE NARCONON SOLUTION
MICHAEL PARTRIDGE
Last April Michael Partridge returned from Los Angeles. He went there to study the Narconon Drug Rehabilitation and Prevention Program.
Wanting to start a Program on Rikers Island Correctional Facility, Michael discussed Narconon with Ralph De Marco and Peter Vallone, who became so enthused with the program’s effectiveness that they requested a conference with Benjamin Malcolm, Commissioner of Corrections, and Peter Wynn, Deputy Commissioner of Addiction Services Agency.
On October 23, 1973 twenty-four inmates began the Narconon Course on Rikers Island. The course will run for three months and it is predicted from past statistics that 85% of these students will never return to drugs or crime. That is the rate of success Narconon has had over seven years of rehabilitating people, mainly in Correctional Institutions. The cost to New York City for each student is $130.00, which makes rehabilitation less expensive than internment (jail).
In New York today there are many programs that seek to prevent drug abuse. Most of these prevention programs conduct classes where an instructor lectures about various drugs which are pictured on a chart in the classroom. This type of program is not too effective because it does not address the basic causes of drug abuse, also it can create curiosity.
In the Narconon Prevention Program the students develop skills and attitudes with enable them to refrain from ever using drugs. Narconon is planning to conduct classes in drug prevention in our schools. The student will learn how to communicate, to complete what they start in life, and how to study and apply what they have learned.
Ralph De Marco and Peter Vallone have expressed a strong interest in supporting an effective prevention program because as Ralph put it “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”. Peter Vallone believes that a problem exists only as long as people and their leaders are unwilling to confront handling the problem, that once a problem is confronted and handling has begun you have only a solution, and he is confident that a great step towards solution is being made.
OUR CHAIRMAN MIKE PARTRIDGE
Few people know that Mike, is a highly respected real estate and insurance broker, is also an attorney who at one time practiced criminal law in Boston. However, Mike’s passion is helping people less fortunate than himself. His dedication to his fellow man is such that he spends most of his free time as the Executive Director of the drug and crime prevention program known as Narconon, the most successful program of its kind in the entire world. He is personally supervising a pilot program at Rikers Island, which is expected to revolutionize the drug rehabilitation field. Mike will never talk about himself or his accomplishments, but the members of Taminent are indeed lucky to have such a man.
OUR MOST RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
The Taminent Regular Democratic Club, under it fine leadership of Ralph DeMarco and Cloria D’Amico, has played an active role in making our community a better place in which to live. The Taminent has been instrumental in selecting the site for the new 114th Precinct H.Q. which is nearing completion on Astoria Boulevard and 34th Street, and which will provide more effective police protection in our community. Recognizing the dangerous potential of the problem of drug abuse upon our society, Ralph DeMarco and Peter Vallone almost singlehandedly were responsible for the installation at Rikers Island of the astonishingly successful drug and criminal rehabilitation program known as “Narconon”. We are proud that our own Mike Partridge serves as Executive Director of this program.
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