24.4: Synanon

Synanon is really two different organizations separated by time with the same origin and some of the same personnel sort of like 1960’s Jefferson Airplane and 1980’s Starship. One has very little do with the other close-up but from a far enough distance they look kind of similar. The psychologist Steven Simon calls these two groups Synanon I and Synanon II. Synanon I called itself a charitable organization and focused its energies on drug rehabilitation in the inner city. Synanon II called itself a religion and established communes in urban and rural locations where residents followed whatever rules were passed down as part of the Synanon leadership's social experiment. Synanon I saved lives even though it was often protested by NIMBY neighbors who didn't want to run into recovering drug addicts at the grocery store. Synanon II accumulated vast resources and sought to intentionally freak out the general public, leading to the group's decline.