The Purification® Program by L. Ron Hubbard
Flushing Out Toxins
Overview Of Detox
Visual Overview Of Detox
Narconon First Step Program

An Overview of the Program Described in the Book Clear Body Clear Mind:

Introduction

The planet has hit a barrier which prevents any widespread social progress? drugs and other biochemical substances.

These can put people into a condition which not only prohibits and destroys physical health but which can prevent any stable advancement in mental or spiritual well-being.

That's the situation today.

We live in a biochemical society.

Bio means "life; of living things." (It is from the Greek word bios, which means "life" or "way of life.")

Chemical means "of or having to do with chemicals." And chemicals are the substances, simple or complex, which are the building blocks of matter.

By biochemical is meant "the interaction of life forms and chemical substances."

Toxic substance is a term which has been used to describe drugs, chemicals, or any substance shown to be poisonous or harmful to an organism. The word toxic comes from the Greek word toxin on which originally meant a poison in which arrows were dipped.

The human body is made up of certain exact chemicals and chemical compounds, and complex chemical processes go on continuously within it. Some substances, such as nutrients, air and water, are vital to the continuation of these processes and for maintaining the bodies health. Some substances are relatively neutral when entered into the body, causing neither benefit nor damage. Toxic substances are those which upset the bodies normal chemical balance or interfere with its chemical processes. Some of them can wreak havoc, blocking or perverting vital body functions and making the body ill or even killing it.

Detoxification would be the action of removing a poison or a poisonous effect from something (such as from one's body).

Toxins in Abundance

There has been an enormous volume of material written on the subject of toxic substances, their reported effects and the prospects for their handling. Examples abound in publications and news reports.

Unfortunately, the current environment is becoming permeated with these life-hostile elements. Drugs, radioactive wastes, pollutants and chemical agents of various types are all a part of the scene and, apparently, more and more prevalent as time goes on.

According to studies, even some of the things that are put in a can of peas or a can of soup are to be considered toxic. They are preservatives and the action of a preservative is to impede decay. Yet digestion and cellular action are based on decay. In other words, those things might be great for the manufacturer as they preserve his product, but they could be very bad for the consumer. It is not that I am on a food faddism kick or a kick against preservatives; the point is that man is surrounded by toxins. This one example alone (preservatives in foods) is an example of the degree to which one can be confronted with toxic substances in the course of daily living.

And with the enemies of various countries using widespread drug addiction as a defeatist mechanism, with nations vying with each other in the manufacture and testing of nuclear weapons (and so increasing the amount of radioactive material free in the environment), with painkillers and sedatives so easily available and with the increased use of industrial and agricultural chemicals, to say nothing of the substances developed for chemical warfare, we face a growing problem.

Putting it quite bluntly, this society, at this time, is riddled with toxic substances.

To briefly point out certain data regarding those substances which pose a threat to individuals and to society at large will bring the biochemical situation more clearly into focus.

Street Drugs

Research has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.

The acceleration of widespread use of drugs such as LSD, heroin, cocaine, "angel dust," marijuana and a long list of others has contributed heavily to a debilitated society. Reportedly, some of these can cause brain and nerve damage. Marijuana, for example, so favored by college students who are supposed to be getting bright today so they can be the executives of tomorrow, has been reported capable of causing brain atrophy. Even school children have been shoved into drugs. And children of drug-taking mothers have been born as druggies.

I have even established that there is such a thing as a "drug personality." It is artificial and is created by drugs. Drugs can apparently change the attitude of a person from his original personality to one secretly harboring hostilities and hatreds he does not permit to show on the surface. While this may not hold true in all cases, it does establish a link between drugs and increasing difficulties with crime, production and the modern breakdown of social and industrial culture.

The devastating physiological effects of drugs are the subject of newspaper headlines routinely. That they also result in a breakdown of mental alertness and ethical fiber is all too obvious.

The drug scene is planet wide. It is swimming in blood and human misery.

But, vicious and damaging though they are, street drugs are actually only one part of the biochemical problem.

Medical and Psychiatric Drugs

Medical and most particularly psychiatric drugs (Valium, Librium and LSD to name but a few) can be every bit as damaging as street drugs. The prevalence of these currently in common use would be quite amazing to one unfamiliar with the problem.

Phenobarbital (under various brand names like Luminal and Nembutal) and other such drugs are often administered as though they were a panacea for all ills. As early as 1951 many persons had become so accustomed to their daily dosage of sleeping pills or painkillers that they did not consider their little pills as drugs. More recently the drug Valium has taken its place among the tranquilizers so frequently employed. But this by no means completes the list.

Too often the attitude is "If I can't find the cause of the pain, at least I'll deaden it." In the case of one mentally ill, this might read, "If he can't be made rational, at least he can be made quiet."

Unfortunately, it is not recognized that a person whose pain has been deadened by a sedative has himself been deadened by the same drug, and is much nearer the ultimate pain of death. It should be obvious that the quietest people in the world are the dead.

Commercial Processes and Products

In recent years much research has been done on the potential toxic effects of many of the substances commonly used in various commercial processes and products, and to what extent they may be finding their way into the bodies of this planets inhabitants. Following are a few examples of what this research has brought to light.

Industrial Chemicals: Under this heading exists a vast array of chemicals that are used in manufacturing. Not all such chemicals are toxic, of course. But workers in factories which produce or use such things as pesticides, petroleum products, plastics, detergents and cleaning chemicals, solvents, plated metals, preservatives, drugs, asbestos products, fertilizers, some cosmetics, perfumes, paints, dyes, electrical equipment, or any radioactive materials can be exposed, often for extended periods, to toxic materials. And of course, the consumer can be exposed to residual amounts of such chemicals when he uses these products.

Agricultural Chemicals: Pesticides are the most obvious of the toxic substances to which workers in agricultural activities could be exposed. These include insecticides (insect-killing chemicals), man-made fertilizers and herbicides (chemicals to kill unwanted plants such as weeds).

Under the heading of herbicides come several which contain a substance known as "dioxin," known to be a highly toxic chemical, even in amounts almost too small to detect in the body. (Dioxin is found in "Agent Orange," a chemical defoliant used in the Vietnam War. This chemical was the subject of considerable publicity when it was found that some US soldiers were exposed to it, apparently with varying adverse effects.)

Contact with chemicals used in agriculture can occur in a number of ways: The chemical can be carried on or in the plant itself and so eaten; it can be carried on the wind and be breathed in directly by those living or working in agricultural areas; or it can even be carried into drinking water supplies.

Food, Food Additives and Preservatives: There are substances added to some commercially processed foods that are meant to "enhance" color or flavor or, as mentioned above, to keep the food from spoiling. Also becoming more common are various artificial sweeteners used in "diet" soft drinks and other commercially packaged foods. From research on these "enhancers" and "preservers," it appears that a number of them are quite toxic, and the whole subject of food additives and preservatives has become a matter of concern to many people.

There is another side to this matter of food. Research findings point to the possibility that rancid oils are a health hazard of a magnitude not previously suspected. Oils used in cooking or commercial processing of foods, where they are not fresh, pure and free of rancidity, have been linked by researchers with digestive and muscular ills, and even cancer.

Perfumes and Fragrances: Use of perfumes and fragrances in all sorts of products has become more and more prevalent in recent years. Everything from clothing to laundry detergent, from cellophane tape to wrapping paper is turning up with fragrance added to it. And that fragrance is almost always a cheap chemical derivative, an extract of coal tar which probably costs about 10 cents a fifty-gallon drum. Findings seem to bear out that these chemicals, floating about in the local supermarket as "fragrances," are actually toxic and can end up in the food products sold there. And when you get a mouthful of this stuff it is no aid to digestion, believe me!

Radiation: You've no doubt seen in news publications that contact with radiation can occur through exposure to nuclear weapons tests or the radioactive particles they can release into the atmosphere, nuclear wastes, or to some manufacturing processes which use radioactive materials. There are other sources of radiation exposure, too: prolonged exposure to the sun, dental and medical x-rays, television sets and unshielded computer display screens are among them.

Recent research has been done into a naturally occurring radioactive gas known as radon. It is a product of the decay of another radioactive element, radium, which has been found to be present in minute amounts in the ground and in many building materials such as concrete, brick and gravel. Apparently, tiny amounts of radon gas can escape from the surfaces of such materials and thus be present in the air and inhaled. If ventilation is not provided for, the radon content of the air in a building can reportedly reach 50 to 100 times the level found outdoors.

These factors are all part of the biochemical problem.

Any of these substances reportedly has the potential of remaining in the system.

This compounds the biochemical problem and presents a barrier of magnitude.

The most likely place for a toxic substance to lock up is in the fatty tissue. It has been said that in middle age and past middle age, a bodies ability to break down fat lessens. So here we have, apparently, a situation of toxic substances locked up in fatty tissue and the fatty tissue is not actually getting broken down, and so such toxic substances could accumulate.

My interest in these somewhat brutal truths was not born only of an objective to resolve the physical ills of individuals. Rather, it was a continuation of my initial research involving the freeing of man as a spirit and handling, on this route, any barriers needing to be resolved.

The Purification program is a proffered answer to the barrier we call the biochemical problem. It could be called a "long-range detoxification program." While it is addressed primarily to the handling of drug residues lodged in the body, it is possible that there are many toxic substances which the body accumulates which the program may accelerate getting rid of.

My concern in developing the Purification program has not been with handling bodies. My research for many, many years has been carried out with the purpose of freeing man spiritually. My original inquiry was into the nature of man and the bulk of my work has always addressed man as a spiritual being. When barriers to this have arisen, those barriers have merited further research and resolution.

The Purification program was developed to meet a growing threat to mental and spiritual advancement and well-being stemming from the more and more common use of drugs and biochemical substances in the current culture.

Its procedures do not supplant technology developed earlier, used especially in Narconon drug rehabilitation centers for handling persons currently on drugs and apt to experience withdrawal symptoms when taken off them. The Purification program would be begun only after such technology was applied.

There are no medicines or drugs used on the Purification program. The only dosages recommended are those classified as food. There are no medical recommendations or claims made for the program. The only claim is future spiritual improvement.

The data contained herein is a record of researches and results noted; it cannot be construed as a recommendation for medical treatment or medication, and it is undertaken or delivered by any individual on his own responsibility.

If the Purification program can be used to salvage even a part of a civilization sick from the onslaught of drugs and other toxic substances, then perhaps there is hope for all of that civilization.

The Development of the Purification Program

What is the Purification program?

To state it simply, it is a program developed to assist in releasing and flushing out of the body the accumulated toxic residues which may be lodged in the tissues, while also rebuilding the impaired tissues and cells.

What is its genesis?

Discovery that LSD Can Lodge in the System

In the 1970s, working with cases of individuals who had been drug users, and in a study of their physical symptoms and behavioral patterns, I made a startling discovery.

People who had been on LSD at some earlier time sometimes had reactions which appeared to act as if they had just taken more LSD!

As it has been stated that it takes only one millionth of an ounce of LSD to produce a drugged condition and because it is basically wheat rust, which simply cuts off circulation, my original thinking on this was that LSD must remain in the body.

In other words:

LSD apparently stays in the system, lodging in the tissues, and mainly the fatty tissues of the body, and is liable to go into action again—giving the person unpredictable "trips"—even years after the person has come off LSD.

This was an observable phenomenon—dramatically so!

In the face of this discovery, was it then also possible that residues of other drugs could lock up in the system and at some point reactivate with similar, if less dramatic, effect?

And if so, how did one then ever fully free people from the effects of drugs? Were they simply doomed thereafter to be at the effect of drugs whenever these residues chanced to reactivate?

What of the other debilitating effects of the presence of these drug residues? It was known that drugs burn up vitamin reserves. What other physical consequences might stem from the hidden presence of such drug deposits?

One could not ignore the possibility that, even when "dormant"—if that expression can indeed ever be used for a toxic substance—they might be highly damaging to the organism.

And what of the potential spiritual and mental growth of individuals so affected? For it was also an observable fact that one was faced with some unchanging characteristics in a certain number of these cases, even when much of the mental and spiritual trauma of drug experiences had apparently been relieved. Among these characteristics was a "woodenness" of personality and a noticeable difficulty in the ability to absorb and comprehend or retain and apply new data—in other words, an impaired ability to learn or change.

What was the answer to these cases?

No known method existed for ridding the body of these minute drug deposits which, locked as they were in the tissues, were not totally dispelled in the normal processes of elimination.

The answer obviously did not lie in attempting to handle with more drugs or biochemicals which would only compound the situation.

But could a method be evolved to dislodge and flush them out, thereby freeing the person for full rehabilitation physically as well as mentally and spiritually?

The Original "Sweat Program"

Operating on the premise that the negative factors observed might be reversed if there were a means of getting LSD deposits out of the system, and that the most logical method to accomplish this would be to sweat them out, I worked out and released in 1977 a regimen called "The Sweat Program." Utilized mainly by those who had been heavily into drugs, particularly LSD, the procedure produced positive results. With it, evidences of the release of residues of other types of street drugs began to appear.

The regimen was a lengthy process, however, taking months to complete. A refinement and speed-up was needed.

Discovery of Other Embedded Toxins

Using data and proven theories from earlier researches over the years, development was begun of a more comprehensive program, broader nutritionally and more streamlined.

From its earliest application another factor emerged which tended to support the theories upon which this new program was based: persons on the research program were reporting the apparent exudation of substances other than just street drugs—substances smelling or tasting or feeling like medicines, anesthetics, diet pills, food preservatives, pesticides and any number of other chemical preparations in common use!

The list included not only LSD, heroin, cocaine, marijuana and "angel dust," but many other biochemical substances—medicinal and pharmaceutical drugs such as aspirin and codeine, as well as commercial and agricultural and industrial chemicals.

These same persons were also experiencing, in mild form, some of the sensations of old sunburns, past illnesses and injuries and other past conditions, both physical and emotional.

Thus it seems that residues of any or all of these hostile biochemical substances apparently have the potential of remaining in the system, getting caught up in the tissues and remaining there, unsuspected, even after they have supposedly been eliminated from the body years earlier.

Their accumulation, unhandled, probably disarranges the biochemistry and fluid balance of the body.

This was my early thinking on the subject. It was now being borne out by further research, as more and more manifestations occurred. (It has also since been borne out by clinical tests and by medical autopsies which have found deposits of certain drugs embedded in body tissues.)

With the ongoing research, all indicators were that these substances were being flushed out as people progressed on the program. And these same individuals were reporting that they felt a new vigor, a renewed vitality and interest in life. With a large number of people coming successfully through the regimen the research was completed.

The Purification program was released.

Elements of the Purification Program

The Purification program is a precisely designed regimen.

It includes the following elements:

Exercise, in the form of running, to stimulate the circulation.

Prescribed periods in a sauna, which, accompanied by certain vitamins and other nutrients, enable one to sweat out the accumulated toxins.

A nutritional program, including:

One's regular diet which is then supplemented with plenty of fresh vegetables which are not overcooked.

An exact regimen of vitamin, mineral and oil intake.

Sufficient liquids to offset the loss of body fluids through sweating.

A properly ordered personal schedule which provides the person with the normally required amount of sleep.

These are not unfamiliar actions to the majority of us.

How then can they accomplish what they apparently do? Why this particular set of actions? How is it that these elements, combined, might accomplish what no one of them apparently, singly or even in other combinations, has accomplished heretofore?

While the procedures to be followed are not unusual, the answers to these questions lie in the very exact combination of the elements which make up the program, in the properties of the nutrients used in specific increments and in the increased proportions of these in exact ratio to each other, as laid out in detail in the book Clear Body, Clear Mind
®.

Warning

There is a warning which should be stressed in any description of this program. That is, simple and familiar as the outlined actions may appear:

They must be followed exactly for the best possible results.

Because of the technical nature of the program, and because it is a strenuous program it must only be undertaken after a physical examination and written approval from an advised medical doctor.

Anyone with a weak heart or who is anemic or who suffers from certain kidney conditions, for example, should not do this program but would require a similar but special program of a milder nature.

Additionally, while doing the program people have reported re-experiencing various effects of past drugs, medicine, alcohol or other stimulants or sedatives—including full-blown drug "trips." For this reason, and for its success on any individual, it is best done under the close supervision of persons trained and experienced in its administration.

Also, even with this tight supervision, one does not do the actions by himself but always carries these out accompanied by a partner.

How the Purification® Program Works

How does the Purification® program work?

Running is done to get the blood circulating deeper into the tissues where toxic residuals are lodged and thus act to loosen and release the accumulated harmful deposits and get them moving.

Very important, then, is that the running is immediately followed by sweating in the sauna to flush out the accumulations which have now been dislodged.

Regular nutrition and supplemental nutrition in the form of megavitamin and mineral dosages and extra quantities of oil are a vital factor in helping the body to flush out toxins and to repair and rebuild the areas that have been affected by drugs and other toxic residuals.

A proper schedule with enough rest is mandatory, as the body will be undergoing change and repair throughout the program.

These actions, carried out on a very stringently monitored basis, are apparently accomplishing a detoxification of the entire system, to the renewed health and vigor of the individual.

There is a more in-depth view to be taken of the entire process, however.

A person who has taken drugs, in addition to the physical factors involved, retains mental image pictures of those drugs and their effects. Mental image pictures are three-dimensional color pictures with sound and smell and all other perceptions, plus the conclusions or speculations of the individual. They are mental copies of one's perceptions sometime in the past. For example, a person who had taken LSD would retain "pictures" of that experience in his mind, complete with recordings of the sights, physical sensations, smells, sounds, etc., that occurred while he was under the influence of LSD.

Let us say an individual took LSD one day while at a fairground with some friends, and the day's experiences included feeling nauseated and dizzy, getting into an argument with a friend, feeling an emotion of sadness, and later feeling very tired. He would have mental image pictures of that entire incident.

Such mental image pictures can be reactivated by drug residuals, as the presence of these drugs in the tissues of the body can simulate the earlier drug experiences. This is known as restimulation: the reactivation of a past memory due to similar circumstances in the present approximating circumstances of the past.

Using the above example of the person who took LSD, sometime later—perhaps years afterward—the residuals of the drug that are still in his body tissues can cause a restimulation of that LSD incident. The mental image pictures are reactivated, and he experiences the same sensations of nausea, dizziness and tiredness, and he feels sad. He does not know why. He might also perceive mental images of the persons he was with and the accompanying sights and sounds and smells.

Therefore, on the Purification program we are looking at two things: one, the actual drugs and toxic residuals in the body (and medical autopsies have shown that they are there); and two, the mental image pictures of the drugs and the mental image pictures of one's experiences with these drugs.

These two factors are hung up—one playing against the other, in perfect balance. What the person is feeling is the two conditions, one of them the actual presence of the drug residuals, the other the mental image pictures relating to them.

Probably the reason why the Purification program works is that it handles the one side of it—the accumulated toxic residuals—and thus fixes the person up so that the other side, the mental image picture side of it, is no longer in constant restimulation. It is as simple as that.

What, among other things, is happening on the Purification program is that you cause an upset of this perfect balance. Suddenly the balance isn't there anymore so you don't get the cross reaction anymore. The harmful and restimulative chemical residues have been flushed out—they're gone. This does not mean the mental image pictures are gone. But they are no longer in restimulation and they're not being reinforced by the presence of drug residuals.

By breaking up the balance of these two and handling the one side of it on the Purification program we are restoring the person to better physical health and freeing him up as well for mental and spiritual gain.

A "Long-Range Detoxification" Program

Drug residues can stop any mental help. They also stop a person's life! While originally addressed primarily to the handling of the accumulation of drugs in the system, it appears from the research results recorded and noted above that with use of this regimen many other toxic substances accumulated by the body can be flushed out of the system.

These substances must be eliminated if one is to get stable mental and spiritual improvement. The operating rule is that mental actions and even biophysical actions—methods of bringing an individual into better communication with his environment—do not work in the presence of life-hostile elements.

In rehabilitating an individual, only when we have accomplished a biochemical handling can we then go on to the next step, the biophysical handling (improving the person's ability to handle his body and environment) and then on to mental and spiritual improvement.

When one tries to move these around and put them out of sequence, one gets losses.

The development of a program to handle drugs and drug and chemical deposits in the body was based on the fact that successful rehabilitation of an individual can only be accomplished in the sequence outlined above.

Apparent gain occurs by cleaning up the body and can be seen as an end-all in itself, though that was not the original motivation.

In view of what it evidently accomplishes, the Purification program might be termed a long-range detoxification program. But it should be identified as itself, since it is unique among detoxification programs, both in its procedure and reported results. To my knowledge, there is no other known method by which these locked-in accumulations may be gotten out of the body.

KevinOwen@rehabnz.co.nz
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