In October 2009, six months after he had gone from “graduate” of the Narconon program to “Certified Counsellor,” David Love began a crusade to have it shut down. He has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission.

[Photograph by: Marie-France Coallier , THE GAZETTE]

MONTREAL - Perhaps the lowest point in David Love’s “treatment” for drug addiction at Narconon Trois Rivières was the five-hour sauna on his 25th day of five-hour saunas.

Being forced to yell at an ashtray for hours on end – “Stand up, ashtray!” “Thank you.” “Sit back down, ashtray!” – also left him confused and frustrated. But it was when Love realized that the rehab centre inspired by the teachings of Scientology was actually putting vulnerable addicts’ health at risk – and that he had become a part of the machinery – that he decided to get out.

On Oct. 28, 2009, six months after he had gone from “graduate” of the Narconon program to “Certified Counsellor,” Love left the facility and began a crusade to have it shut down. In July 2011, following his complaint, the Quebec College of Physicians ordered Dr. Pierre Labonté, Narconon’s “medical manager,” to cut his associations with the centre, located about 125 kilometres northeast of Montreal. The Quebec labour relations tribunal also mediated in Love’s favour when he complained about being paid $2.50 an hour as a staff member.

Then last Friday, 2½ years after Love began his campaign, public health officials for the Mauricie region ordered Narconon to relocate its 32 residents and told the organization they would not certify the centre, because its approach was not recognized in this province, and that its practices, including the saunas and massive doses of niacin, were potentially putting patients’ health at risk.

Most of the patients, from B.C. and other provinces as well as the United States, have since been relocated to Narconon centres in the U.S.

As for David Love, he remains drug-free since he left Narconon – but deeply traumatized by what he saw and went through in Trois Rivières.

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"Right now, they're taking away all of the center's records, confidential files they don't want anyone to see because of the crooked way they manage," said Odette Poulin.