Scientologists to Appear at Miami Super Bowl Event

For some 50 years, the Church of Scientology has claimed to have the answers to the "social cataclysm" that is drug and alcohol addiction. L. Ron Hubbard, a sci-fi writer and the father of Scientology, created rehabilitation programs based on the theory that drug residues remain stored in body fat and must be treated with massive amounts of vitamins and forced sweating until ooze discharges from a person's pores, signaling the body's detox.

The church touts on its website that tens of thousands of schools and hundreds of law enforcement agencies use Scientology's drug abuse prevention programs and materials — brochures full of dystopian images of a drug-addled teen wasteland. But professionals in medicine and education have largely disavowed the church's theories and fear-stoking drug prevention programs and said the teachings are inaccurate.

This week, Tony Ortega — a journalist and critic of Scientology — pointed out a Facebook post mentioning a partnership between a local drug prevention organization backed by the church and the Miami Police Department (MPD). Drug-Free World of South Florida — an arm of the Church of Scientology — announced on Facebook it was "honored to partner" with MPD for a Super Bowl program. The nonprofit is a local chapter of Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a Los Angeles-based nonprofit whose mission is to eliminate drug and alcohol abuse "and its resulting criminality."