SaunaScape

Utah cops sweating out their toxins from Methamphetamine exposure in a sauna. (Fox News)

The Salt Lake City Tribune this morning reported that the Utah legislature just allocated $100,000 for 20 Utah police officers to undergo the detox program from L. Ron Hubbard’s 1977 book, Clear Body Clear Mind. The program is for officers who have served raiding or dimantling meth labs. The Tribune reports that 39 officers have undergone the treatment already, and there is a waiting list of more than 80 officers.

In the story, they quote several current and former narcotics officers who have undergone the treatment. The officers quoted found that the treatment has been effective: “Lt. Richard Ferguson of the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force estimates he was exposed to 100 meth labs in an eight-year span. He suffered from headaches and acid reflux until he underwent the treatment. ’Scientifically, I guess there’s something to it because I don’t have to take a prescription anymore,’ Ferguson said.”

In November 20007, Fox News reported on the beginning of the program: “Lt. Al Acosta of the Utah Department of Public Safety blames his muscle tremors, headaches, chest pains and difficulty breathing on the more than 300 labs he’s raided in his nearly 20-year career. He said one whiff of his sweat [while in the sauna]- with bouquets of ammonia or cat urine, depending on the day – is enough to tell him he’s expelling those chemicals. ‘Whoever the skeptical people are [should] come here and just take a whiff of the odors that we’re putting off,’ Acosta said. ‘I don’t think we normally smell this way.’”

One interesting note in the story is their quote of a state-funded study looking for a link between the detox program and meth contamination. They note that “science has yet to determine whether the saunas, exercise and improved diet are simply making cops generally healthier, or are actually tackling illnesses caused by meth exposure.

The Utah program, administered by the American Detoxification Foundation, uses a 36-day regimen for their detox program.

The Scientology Connection. The Tribune reports that there is involvement between practitioners of Scientology and the use of this detox program. Private donations have raised funds for the 5 officers currently undergoing the program, and “plans are underway for two ‘Hollywood stars’ to hold fundraisers to treat more Utah cops.” They also reported “actor Tom Cruise, also a Scientologist, raised money for New York City firefighters to undergo detoxification after the Sept. 11 attacks. ”

The Utah legislature, despite the criticism, sees its benefits. “[This detox program] was portrayed as a medical cleansing of contaminants that they picked up doing their public service,” said Utah Senate President Mike Waddoups. “If somebody had pointed it out as the Hubbard program and it’s some sort of a spiritual cleansing, I think it would have died on the spot.”

[More state funds quietly budgeted to help cops sweat to health] The Salt Lake City Tribune