SYNANON; (Four items relating to the drug rehabilitiation facility)

(Four items relating to this drug rehabilitiation facility that came in for some harsh criticism on account of its allegedly cult-like qualities and practices.) *A 2-page typewritten letter dated October 21st. 1964 from Dr. John H. DeTar, a urologist of Reno, Nevada, to William Loeb, the editor of the extremist right-wing Manchester Union Leader in New Hampshire. In the course of this letter, Synanon's supposed involvement in the Communist Conspiracy is discussed, and allegations made that "Synanon, which is comprised primarily of ex-drug addicts and ex-prisoners, runs the Nevada State Prison." DeTar adds that they "have been doing so with tax support over the past 18 months." **The third issue of an anti-Synanon newsletter put out by the good doctor, comprising a single leaf of, appropriately, yellow legal-size paper mimeographed on one side of the leaf only and addressed to "Dear Patriot" (invariably ominous words in our experience). ***A mimeographed pamphlet by DeTar, measuring 8x6 inches, comprising pp. [ii]+22 and bound in printed gray card wrappers with a single exterior side-staple. Further allegations of Synanon's complicity in the International Bolshevik Conspiracy are made, and parallels are drawn between Synanon's methods and those employed by North Korean brain-washers. A whole section is dedicated to the menace posed to Civilization As We Know It by author Guy Endore, whose translations of Franz Blei and Hanns Heinz Ewers, and biographical works on Casanova, Sade, Victor Hugo and Jeanne d'Arc, presumably make his name fairly familiar to those who regularly receive Ivan's catalogues. ***A 26-page, reduced-size transcript of legal pleadings (dated August 28th 1959) in a Synanon case.