This is a post from Mike Westen at his blog. He sent it to me and I thought it was a great piece so I am reprinting it here.
A recently leaked church document highlights Scientology’s hypocrisy with regards its anti-psychiatry activism.
On Saturday, Tony Ortega published a 1993 investment summary listing the church’s assets in bonds, equities and cash. Amongst the numerous shares listed were two pharmaceutical companies: Ciba Geigy and Pfizer.
As of 1993, Ciba Geigy was the Swiss manufacturer of the stimulant drug Ritalin (methylphenidate) and the antipsychotic Clozaril (clozapine). Ciba Geigy eventually became Novartis after merging with Sandoz in 1996. As of 2020, Novartis is the fourth largest pharmaceutical company on the planet.
As of 1993, US drug giant Pfizer was known as the manufacturer of Xanax (alprazolam) and the antidepressants Zoloft (sertraline) and Effexor (venlafaxine). As of 2020, Pfizer is the sixth largest pharmaceutical company on the planet.
In July 1994, during an event at Flag, David Miscavige gleefully announced to his crowd that the church was the welcome recipient of cash from Prozac manufacturer, Eli Lilly.
Four years after hiring PR firm Hill+Knowlton to help improve its profile, Time magazine published Richard Behar’s game-changing 1991 exposé, The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power. Two days later, the church was dropped as a client and was up shit creek without a paddle. Upon learning Eli Lilly was also H+K’s client, and that Lilly had pressured H+K and its parent WPP to drop them, the church sued – and initiated one of the most aggressive retaliatory PR campaigns in its history.
The suit was eventually settled. And the church’s fair game onslaught against Lilly ceased. Yet whilst the terms were confidential, Miscavige wasted no time in boasting about being paid off by a drug giant.
* * *
Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, scientologists rallied against psychiatric drugs and their makers. At a time when some of the more sinister side effects were less known, church members marched on Capitol Hill whilst celebrities such as Kirstie Alley and Kelly Preston testified at various hearings, pleading with lawmakers to curb their use.
To this day, CCHR provides material highlighting the dangers of Ritalin, Prozac, Effexor, Zoloft and numerous other psychiatric medications. Scientologists remain under constant pressure to donate heavily to church campaigns promising to end psychiatry and Big Pharma’s conspiratorial reign of terror.
If nothing else, this is what scientologists stand for.
The idea that their church has celebrated taking drug money and had a financial interest in their proliferation, will be a bitter pill to swallow.
And I also add, the largest contributors to scientology coffers in history, the Duggan’s billions come from selling his company (Pharmacyclics) to AbbVie, one of the Biggest Pharma companies on earth.
Cece says
October 11, 2020 at 6:49 pmM. Westen, excellent reporting. I’d love to share on FB but I finally got 10+ church members back on my page. OSA FB police are out to lunch these days. Perhapes I can share from your site not so obvious as Rinders. Thank you for the good work.
Balletlady says
October 11, 2020 at 10:46 amDouble Talk…..Double Speak……
Talking out of BOTH sides of their mouth(s…
Do as we say….NOT as we do……
If it garners them huge investment $$$$$$…..THEY are “ALL IN”………
Brian J Sheen says
October 9, 2020 at 11:40 amGosh..what a depressing story! I think I need to take one of my little green pills…or is it time for the blue one? Gosh now I am all mixed up. Perhaps its the purple one or yellow one with a stripe of pink? It gets so confusing trying to model the many pills Hubbard took to keep his super OT powers and be safe from the entities surrounding him. Oh screw it all, I will just take some of the GUK pills I had left over from the 60’s, I’m sure that will help me digest Scientology’s insanity! Or maybe I should call for a Volunteer Minister to give me a touch assist..I hear that can cure anything!
Joe Pendleton says
October 9, 2020 at 10:53 amFour words:
What your fees buy
Jere Lull says
October 9, 2020 at 2:08 pmIn Miscavige’s world view, your fees buy NOTHING, not even promises any more.
And the straight donations are worse; they go straight to accounts controlled by Dwarfenführer®, with no exchange even implied.
Believe or Else says
October 9, 2020 at 9:22 amIn Scientology parlance: “Scientology has fought big pharma for so long they finally snapped terminals with the enemy.” The perfume known as “Hypocrisy” is a stinky scent. Scientology reeks like a cheap whore who wears far too much.
otherles says
October 9, 2020 at 8:35 amScientology is hypocritical. Gosh, what a surprise.
Skyler says
October 8, 2020 at 4:17 pmThis level of hypocrisy is unbelievable – for anyone that is except this asshole.
Jere Lull says
October 9, 2020 at 2:15 pmSkyler, scientology won’t recognize hypocrisy even if it jumped up and bit him on his so-tiny derrière.
Kronomex says
October 9, 2020 at 9:39 pmDon’t you mean “hip-pocketry”?
Loosing my Religion says
October 8, 2020 at 4:15 pmWow! In my opinion the amount was even more. In the 90s we were sending each given week checks to UK. This was called PTF = payments to flag. A courier would get them to Saint Hill. These checks were hidden on the person. Then banked to the Lloyd Bank. Perhaps sent from all Europe. Each single week. Believe me – a lot of money, and not just from the orgs.
Scn investing in pharma companies is like….. I have no examples.
PickAnotherID says
October 8, 2020 at 3:53 pmHypocrisy, $cientology is they name.
Considering how many front groups, like CCHR, $cientology has pushing ideas that are the exact opposite of how it actually operates internally, this does not come as much of a surprise.
TrevAnon says
October 8, 2020 at 2:43 pmOT SkepticShe (Lauren) has another video about some Impact magazine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sazrwxfge7g&ab_channel=SkepticShe
grisianfarce says
October 9, 2020 at 11:41 am… which lead me to watch Create Create Create https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K69Xcop9uIs
Love the use of the metronomes – probably not enough to actually hypnotize anyone, but I appreciate the thought.
Nancy Vasta says
October 8, 2020 at 2:19 pmAfter reading this article,it finally dawned on me why J.D.Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye is considered a masterpiece.I read it many years ago but some people really are pathological liars and hypocrites.The author truly nailed it.Nothing has changed.
Eh=Eh says
October 8, 2020 at 1:54 pmNothing I learn about this evil organization surprises me anymore! That I was deceived and willingly became a part of it disappoints me the most!
TrevAnon says
October 8, 2020 at 1:14 pmFor anyone interested, I did an OCR of the lists in Tony’s blog post
Results in CSV are here:
https://whyweprotest.net/threads/ocr-for-asset-portfolio-cos-june-1993.135392/
and
https://exscn2.net/threads/stunning-leak-scientology%E2%80%99s-entire-asset-portfolio-the-year-it-got-irs-church-status.2022/
SadStateofAffairs says
October 8, 2020 at 1:10 pmYes, I noticed the Big Pharma listings in those Church holdings as well. I also remember how pissed Miscavige was at CCHR for attacking Prozac and bringing down the lightning (Time Article) as well, and how he decreed at the time that the strategy was not to attack the pharmaceutical companies but the psychs. Yes, this is a motherlode of hypocrisy that Scientologists should know about.
Zee Moo says
October 8, 2020 at 1:02 pmMike, say it isn’t so! The CO$ lies??? It does the opposite of what it preaches! How 2020 of them. Please note that the various CO$ front groups got Covid 19 ‘relief’ funds, free from the Trump Admin.
Gordon Weir says
October 8, 2020 at 12:01 pm$ci with it’s Psychology, an Industry of Death Museum once again shows it is all about $. Put this info in your pipe and smoke it Tom Cruise and for that matter all $ci members.
Scribe says
October 8, 2020 at 11:55 am“Money is God.”
David Miscavige