American Rehab: A Venomous Snake
By the end of the 1960s, Synanon was a widely respected drug rehab with a celebrated treatment program. It had intake centers and commune-style rehabs all over the country.\xa0
\n\nIt subsisted by turning members into unpaid workers who hustled donations and ran Synanon businesses. As the money poured in, Synanon\u2019s founder, Charles Dederich, transitioned the group from a rehab into an \u201cexperimental society.\u201d\xa0\xa0
\n\nDederich instituted a series of increasingly authoritarian rules on members: He banned sugar, dissolved marriages, separated children from their parents and forced vasectomies. Synanon ultimately became a religion, with Dederich as its violent and vengeful leader.
\n\nSynanon descended into madness. But before it crumbled, the group inspired an entire generation of rehabs. By one researcher\u2019s count in the 1970s, there were 500 programs in the United States stemming from Synanon. Many of those rehabs still exist today, including Cenikor.\xa0
\n\nThis is a rebroadcast of an episode that was originally aired in 2020.\xa0
\n\n- \n
Support Reveal\u2019s journalism at Revealnews.org/donatenow
\nSubscribe to our weekly newsletter to get the scoop on new episodes at Revealnews.org/newsletter
\n- \n