Starting more than forty years ago, the Narconon program began to be developed to address and fully handle each of the components of addiction that we have just covered. After decades of research, trial and development, a program has resulted that successfully addresses each of these aspects of addiction.

Narconon was established through a collaboration between William “Willie” Benitez, a convict imprisoned in the Arizona State Penitentiary and the American author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard. In 1965, Willie decided he must set up a Narcotic Foundation that could eliminate addictions such as his. He called his program Narconon for “NARCOtics-NONe.”

In the prison library, Willie found the book Fundamentals of Thought by Mr. Hubbard and started a correspondence with the author, telling him of his intention to develop a solution to addiction. Mr. Hubbard responded warmly to William Benitez’s request for help with his fledgling program and made his innovative discoveries in drug and alcohol rehabilitation available as the program developed. With the help of prison administrators, Willie started his Narconon program on February 19, 1966. For the remainder of his sentence, Willie used Mr. Hubbard’s materials to help addicts inside the prison overcome their addictions.

Willie completed his prison term and was released in October 1967. He moved to California to expand the Narconon organization and to make it available to persons in need. Mr. Hubbard and his organizations supported the effort, resulting in worldwide expansion.

In later years, Willie served for many years with the Arizona Department of Corrections.

Today, the Narconon program 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, Colombia, Switzerland, New Zealand, South Africa, Ghana, the United Kingdom, Australia, Indonesia, Taiwan, Argentina and Brazil.