Synanon

Synanon was initially a drug rehabilitation program founded by Charles Dederich Sr. (1913-1997) in 1958 in Santa Monica, California. By the early 1960s it had become an alternative community as well, attracting people with its emphasis on living a self-examined life, as aided by group truth-telling sessions known as the Synanon Game. Synanon ultimately became the cultish "Church of Synanon" before its founder left in the late 1970s and the group disbanded finally in the early 1990s.

Related Topics:
Drug rehabilitation - Charles Dederich Sr. - 1913 - 1997 - 1958 - Santa Monica, California - Cult - 1970s - 1990s

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Dederich was a reformed alcoholic and regular attendee at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous who made an impression as a speaker on many attendees. Drug addicts were not accepted into the AA at that time so he created his own program to address their needs.

Related Topics:
Alcoholic - Alcoholics Anonymous

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Synanon began as a two-year residential program, but before long Dederich decided that members could never graduate, that full recovery was never possible. The community developed a business selling promotional items, a successful enterprise that generated roughly $10 million per year of revenue. The Club Casa del Mar, a large beachside 1926 hotel in Santa Monica, was purchased and used as a headquarters and dormitory for drug treatment. Children were reared communally in the Synanon School, and juveniles were often sent to Synanon by the courts. Professionals, with and without drug addictions, were eagerly invited and were expected to turn over their assets to the group. Control over members was imposed through the Synanon Game, often compared to encounter groups, and loyalty requirements. Beginning in the mid 1970s, women were required to shave their heads, married couples were made to break up and take new partners, males required to undergo vasectomies, and a few pregnant women were even required to have abortions.

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Beginning in 1974 the authorities began to question Synanon's promises and practices. The concept of "lifetime rehabilitation" did not agree with therapeutic norms, and the group was alleged to be running an unauthorized medical clinic. On remote properties in California such as Tomales Bay in Marin County and Badger, Tulare County, California the state the organization built unpermitted buildings, a trash dump, and an airstrip. Tax issues came up. To dodge these accusations Dederich declared that Synanon was a tax exempt religious organization, the "Church of Synanon."

Related Topics:
1974 - Tomales Bay - Marin County - Badger, Tulare County, California - Tax exempt

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The change did not make the problems disappear. Children assigned to Synanon began to run away, helped by an "underground railroad" that sought to return them to their parents. Beatings of opponents and ex-members, "splittees", occurred across the state. A Grand Jury in Los Angeles issued a scathing report in 1978 attacking Synanon for its child abuse and for the profits that flowed to Dederich, and also attacking authorities for their lack of oversight. Remarkably, the authorities still did nothing. Though local newspapers and broadcast media covered the case, they were largely silenced by lawsuits from Synanon lawyers charging libel. Those suits ultimately turned out to be Synanon's undoing, giving journalists access to internal documents.

Related Topics:
Grand Jury - 1978 - Child abuse

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On October 11, 1978 two Synanon members placed a rattlesnake (rattle removed) in the mailbox of an attorney in Pacific Palisades, California. The victim had successfully sued on behalf of a woman that Synanon had abducted. The lawyer was bitten and barely survived. Six weeks later the Los Angeles Police Department performed a search of the ranch in Badger that turned up a recorded speech by Dederich threatening death to his opponents. A drunken Dederich was arrested on December 2. The two other Synanon residents pleaded "no contest" to charges of assault and conspiracy to murder. While his associates went to jail, Dederich avoided imprisonment in exchange for ending his involvement in Synanon.

Related Topics:
October 11 - 1978 - Rattlesnake - Pacific Palisades, California - Los Angeles Police Department - December 2 - No contest

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The tiny Point Reyes Light, a weekly newspaper in Marin County, received the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service in 1979 on account of its fearless coverage of Synanon when other news outlets avoided covering the group.

Related Topics:
Point Reyes Light - Newspaper - Marin County - Pulitzer Prize for Public Service - 1979

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Synanon struggled to survive without its leader and with a severely tarnished reputation. The Internal Revenue Service revoked the group's tax exemption and the properties were confiscated or sold. By the mid-1990s the community had essentially folded.

Related Topics:
Internal Revenue Service - 1990s

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Despite its faults, the Synanon program worked for many individuals. Among other successes, it is credited with curing (temporarily) heroin-addicted Jazz musicians Art Pepper and Joe Pass.

Related Topics:
Jazz - Art Pepper - Joe Pass

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