By KATH GANNAWAY
THE group which led a successful campaign against Narconon’s relocation to Warburton township has welcomed a recent finding that the organisation has made false claims about the effectiveness of its drug rehabilitation program.
Get Off Drugs Naturally (GODN) which runs the Narconon program in a remote location at East Warburton was fined $3000 by Consumer Affairs Victoria on 7 May and ordered to remove false claims from its website that its detox treatments could cure drug addiction.
Say No To Narconon spokesperson, Lindy Schneider, said the issues responded to by CAV were issues they raised throughout the Yarra Ranges Council permit process, and the resulting VCAT challenge by Narconon.
Ms Schneider said while the issues around claims made about treatment effectiveness, and other non-planning issues were not part of the consideration process, they were nonetheless issues that were of concern.
“From the perspective of Say No To Narconon (SNTN) Warburton, we are pleased that this investigation by CAV has occurred and believe the outcome is a fair and considered response that has touched on the many issues we knew were of key significance for the community,” Ms Schneider said.
“It is a useful adjunct to the VCAT ruling and we are relieved that there has been action taken to rectify the misleading nature of the material we encountered as we prepared our community response, which will be of benefit to the general public.”
Following the VCAT decision in December last year, SNTN called for a parliamentary inquiry into the continued operations of GODN at East Warburton, saying risks that came to light during the campaign, and during the VCAT hearing, demanded a response.
“We fully support and welcome facilities located in appropriate circumstances and with the necessary accreditation, evidence-based practice and accessibility our community deserves,” she said at the time.
“This has never been the case with Narconon/GODN.”
In response, president of GODN, Dr Nerida James, said a parliamentary inquiry would be a waste of time and money and said anyone with concerns should contact the relevant government authorities and agencies charged with investigating the matters raised.
The CAV notice was, in fact, issued in October last year and found that GODN was unable to provide evidence that 10 testimonials were genuinely from patients, or that all the claims made about the treatment program were supported by independently varified scientific evidence.
Claims of their success rate were also discounted as unproven.
“The CAV ruling should be encouraging for anyone in Australia who has been at Get Off Drugs/Narconon that has been aggrieved and feels like lodging a complaint with the Health Services Commissioner,” Ms Schneider said.
The Mail provided an opportunity for GODN/Narconon to respond to the CAV rulings, but has not received a response.
