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Tulsa Psychiatrist
To Review Narconon Program For Board
By Michael McNutt
Daily Oklahoman, Enid Bureau
20 December 1990
A state agency barred by a court order from inspecting a Kay county substance abuse center named a Tulsa man Thursday to evaluate the facility.
Dr. John Chelf, a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in addiction, will make the review and report to the State Mental health Board, said Rosemary Brown, a spokeswoman with the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health.
The Narconon Chilocco New Life Center last month successfully blocked board members from reviewing reports from an earlier inspection. They claimed the documents were biased against the facility because of its ties with the Church of Scientology.
Mental health board members last month talked of naming the agency's advocate general, the person who represents complaining patients of mental health and substance abuse facilities but reconsidered after Narconon objected, Brown said.
An Oklahoma County associate district judge last month ruled the department was biased against Narconon. The ruling came a day before board members were scheduled to act on certifying the program, which has been questioned because of its emphasis on saunas and vitamins, a method devised by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology.
Chelf has the freedom
to make an evaluation of Narconon by himself or ask for help from experts
not employed by the mental health department, Brown said. (Reprinted with
permission from the Daily Oklahoman, Friday, December 14, 1990)