Narconon Celebrates 44 Years of Changing Lives

Narconon Original

Today marks the 44^th anniversary of the Narconon drug rehab program and Narconon of Georgia is celebrating with a special event hosted by one of the original members of the program.

The first Narconon was started and founded by William Benitez, an inmate at Arizona State Prison. Mr. Benitez was a heroin addict who could not seem to get off of drugs using traditional forms of treatment. After being sentenced to prison he had a realization that drug addiction had caused most of the problems in his life, including the current one. He set out to change himself through self-improvement.

Mr. Gordon Weinand, one of the original members of the original Narconon Program in 1967, currently works in Public Relations for Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia.

“Success equals 40 years of being dedicated to the greatest self-help program in the world – Narconon,” says Gordy, “My own personal successes in the past 40 years have given me the strength and courage to be a part of helping others fight their fight.”

The event at Narconon of Georgia highlighted Gordy’s achievements, the event entitles “Lunch with Gordy” is not new, Gordy often plays host to the students lunch hour, but today was special and Gordy recalled the old days and told the students that  if this was 44 years ago he would be sitting right where they were.

Today, Narconon has spread from that one program in Arizona State Prison to include community programs in many states and countries such as Denmark, Italy, Holland, Germany, France, Sweden, Spain, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Columbia, Switzerland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Australia, Taiwan, Argentina, and Brazil.

“That’s a long way from an Arizona State Prison, but what we learned then is still valid today”, stated Gordy.  Gordy has spent a lifetime encouraging and helping drug addicts.  The lesson we can all learn from Gordy is that there is no greater gift than to give back.

Narconon exists for the purpose of helping individuals overcome alcohol and drug addiction and return them to society as drug free, productive and happy individuals.