The Synanon Fix: Did the Cure Become a Cult?

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S01E02: A War on Convention

By the 1970s, Synanon boasts its own farm, a school, and multiple businesses, but Chuck’s utopian vision begins to crack. As members face more extreme edicts, including mandates to quit smoking, separate from their children, and shave their heads – many find themselves weighing the benefits and costs of the choices they’re forced to make.

Overview

Explore the rise and fall of the Synanon organization — through the eyes of the members who lived it — from its early days as a groundbreaking drug rehabilitation program to its later descent into what many consider a cult.

Episodes

S01E01 Here Come the Dopefiends

April 1, 2024 10.0 61 min

Recovering alcoholic Chuck Dederich opens a storefront drug rehabilitation program that gains a following through its confrontational talk-therapy approach. As the program attracts non-addicts and celebrity followers, Synanon grows into a social movement that rapidly...

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S01E02 A War on Convention

April 8, 2024 61 min

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S01E03 What in the Hell is Happening?

April 15, 2024

Chuck’s behavior becomes more belligerent and abusive. He forms a military-like boot camp for delinquent children where corporal punishment abounds. He mandates vasectomies and abortions and, when his wife dies, he quickly remarries and decrees...

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S01E04 Strap Yourself to the Mast

April 22, 2024

In 1977, the Los Angeles Times reports on the nine-day abduction of Frances Winn by Synanon. Lawyer Paul Morantz wins a settlement case in her favor. With media focus heating up, Chuck spends $62,000 on...

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