Synanon and Cedu

[Cypress]

What follows is a series of posts from a Cedu group on Yahoo.


Initial Post...
"Have any of you done research into the connection
between CEDU and Synanon? Interested at all?"

Reply...
"Yea, that's where Mel got the basic idea for Cedu.  When I was there most of the 'family heads' where
escapee's from there. Synanon's concept was cult like
in that you never left, you were all one big family
and your children were to be raised by all. They fell
apart in the late 70's I think when someone put a live
rattlesnake in the leaders mailbox. It got big news
coverage. I don't even know if they still exist.
Anyway, the guys who defected to Cedu were uneducated
punks who were let loose on us teenagers. They had no
training, no degrees, just Mel guiding them. Who, by
the way, was a furniture salesman before he became the
Cedu god. Talk about a control freaks dream!!!
What a sweet deal these losers had too....free rent, a
nice salary and all they had to do was pick on kids
all day. No wonder they all seemed so happy,
especially when the got all those hugs and kisses from
the nubile young girls sitting on thier laps.......
I don't think any of those men could have made it in
the real world or held down a real job.
I remember the first night I was there, some big fat
old (at least to me, he seemed old at the time...) guy
named Neil Weston came up to me and started hugging
and kissing me and I freaked out! I didn't know what
the hell he was doing.
Other than John Padgett, I never heard anything about
what became of Morty Mullins or Dave Powers. I know
Michael Allgood started his own school, maybe they
went with him.
I may be wrong here too, but I bet these guys had to
leave once a legitimate business took Cedu over. I
can't imagine how they could justify to the paying
parents that their kids were being counseled by these
men."

Next Post...
"I had a long chat with one of our members last night and we talked
about the Synanon connection to Cedu as you all know that's where Mel
Wasserman got his idea to start Cedu. These are some scary
people....we should count our lucky stars that we didn't end up
there. There's a web site that gives you the basics about Synanon
and has a alumni list that includes John stallone and Morty Molin
(who is now deceased) who were two of the 'family heads' when I was
at Cedu. The address is http://www.synanon.org/ and you'll have to answer a
question to get into the visitors section. The answer to the
question is "Walk Around Money" or WAM. I thought it was very
interesting. I'm also waiting on a response from a synanon group in
yahoo groups to see if I can join and ask them some questions. I
would really like to know how Mel Wasserman, a furniture salesman in
Palm Springs got involved with Synanon and how he ended up with these
dope fiends as counselors/therapists.....

Next Post...
"ere's what my friend Margaret, who was one of the first to join Cedu
had to say......


To my knowledge Mel did not have any real connections to Synanon. He
went
there a couple of times and maybe donated some money. But the only
connection I know of is that after he visited there he decided he
could do
the same thing but with teenagers. So he used their basic game plan
and
opened the doors to his Palm Springs house to invite us( drug using
messed
up kids)into his home just to talk. That is how it got started. We
started
coming over just to talk about what we were doing and why. Then Mel
made
some basic rules no drugs, no alcohol, cannot be stonned or drunk, no
physical violence, a person could talk about or say annything they
wanted
. It just kind of snow balled from there. Kids started moving in
including
me and we worked and pooled our money, I believe he was sincere about
helping us at first. I know I had no direction in my life at that
time. But
like I said something happened, I think power and money became the
name of
the game. If that was his intentions all along I do not know. I sure
hope I
wasn't so stupid to buy into his game. But who knows. you can put
this on
you site if you want and use my name if you want."

Next Post...
I'm copying a message posted on the Yahoo Synanon group page
regarding the Synanon/Cedu connection. Interesting, but I wonder how
true it is?

Hi **** --

In Synanon we were told it was a drug rehab program called The
Charles E Dederich University. We thought it a nice compliment.

Have a cool week,
*****"

[mikehunt]

WAM... ugh... they even use the same lingo.

[Antigen]

I'd take just about any of this w/ a grain of salt.

Here's why; it all sounds very much like Art Barker's various lines of bullshit about the beginnings of The Seed. I remember this firsthand, though vaguely as I was only about 6 years old when my family joined The Seed. I remember hearing about Synanon, how the Program was similar to it and how gosh darned lucky we all were to have the kinder, gentler Seed instead. This was before Chuck Deiderich and his thugs tried to kill Paul Morantz, the lawyer representing a woman who was trying to leave the cult, by placing a large rattle snake in his mailbox w/ the rattle cut off. We were told it was just a tougher program where they made you shave your head and wear overalls.  :roll:
 
Anyway, Art's story on the beginnings of The Seed was all about how it was all his idea--an inspiration from god and AA. Through some research ( available at http://TheStraights.com/ )we find out that Bobby DuPont, then head of NIDA, visited Synanon, made a formal recomendation that the Program be replicated accross the country at public expense and then acted on that intention by channeling funding to, among other programs, The Seed.

I'm not sure exactly where to look or how to dig the info up if it exists, but I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that CEDU had the same kind of funding/promotion frim NIDA as The Seed/Straight did.

Some people think that Bobby DuPont is the psychiatrist that George Orwell warned us about.

There is nothing so likely to produce peace as to be well prepared to meet the enemy.
--George Washington

[Anonymous]

all the things you said were said when others were at cedu and none of the kids cared they believed everything the heads said and it was conditional acceptance meaning that if you left they would shun you or worse ruin you. they did not want to leave there friends and that is why many stayed there were some who were so fervent in the place that they would shun anyone who did not follow. i heard about the rattlesnake thing at cedu when  i was there from mel. it must have been widely publicized or he was talking to synanon.
when a parent would sue him he would hit up michael landon for dough and they would try to ruin the kid and parnet who was suing. it was just like the gennifer flowers thing and clinton said he never had no affair with her and then had carville attack her and of course it was found out that he had.

[Anonymous]

tell us the full story about the snake .  the lie they fed to the brainwashed was that cedu stood for see yourself as you are and do something about it. it really stood for say one thing do another. all the sociopaths and con men later went to cascade school. it was shut down when extortion of parents and kids was discovered. there was a student protest and if anyone knows where there is a  board for cascade or knows about what went down  say it!

[Antigen]

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=U ... on&spell=1

From the bottom of any large organization looking up through the ranks, human greed and stupidity look a lot like a conspiracy.
--S. Gilbert

[Anonymous]

On 2004-07-26 17:35:00, Cypress wrote:

"What follows is a series of posts from a Cedu group on Yahoo.


there a couple of times and maybe donated some money. But the only

connection I know of is that after he visited there he decided he

could do

the same thing but with teenagers. So he used their basic game plan

and

opened the doors to his Palm Springs house to invite us( drug using

messed

up kids)into his home just to talk. That is how it got started. We

started

coming over just to talk about what we were doing and why. Then Mel

made

some basic rules no drugs, no alcohol, cannot be stonned or drunk, no

physical violence, a person could talk about or say annything they

wanted

. It just kind of snow balled from there. Kids started moving in

including

me and we worked and pooled our money, I believe he was sincere about

helping us at first. I know I had no direction in my life at that

time. But

like I said something happened, I think power and money became the

name of

the game. If that was his intentions all along I do not know. I sure

hope I

wasn't so stupid to buy into his game. But who knows. you can put

this on

you site if you want and use my name if you want."

your description of wasserman and the early cedu sounds almost EXACTLY like the beginnings of synanon (dederich also left AA and did the same thing for fellow alcoholics/addicts in santa monica).

sooo much of the cedu/synanon language is the same: pull-ups, indictments, splitting, etc etc. i would like to hear more about the cedu staff who left synanon, which is classified as a cult.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think it's pretty obvious that CEDU = Charles E. Dederich University. Of course they shifted gears pretty fast after Synanon became a farce but what else does the name *really* mean?

[Roy]

I remember Padgett from way back in the 60s - Is he still in Lake Arrowhead?

[Cypress]

John Padgett passed away a few years ago from cancer.

[CEDU 1974-75]

Does anybody know the history of Dederich's involvement with AA other than the thumbnail sketch I usually find.You Know,sober two years in AA,found his experience unsatisfying,started having meetings in his home(a common practice among present day AA cultists in Las Vegas!)?
So many of these abusive entities have there genesis  in the seemingly benign organization of alcoholics anonymous that it's not even funny.

[Anonymous]

I lived in Synanon for 25 years --67-90 (when it succumbed once and for all).  I vaguely remember the name Mel Wasserman..I think he is what we called a square game player and I think he donated some stuff--to us (furniture sounds right!).  I didn't know he founded CEDU.  I knew some people from Synanon left to go work there.  The folk lore in Synanon about CEDU was that the name stood for C.E.D. University (Those being the initials of Charles Edwin Dederich  the founder of Synanon)  I have no idea whether this is accurate or just some  mythology.  

I am happy to answer questions about Synanon if anyone is interested.

[Anonymous]

Questions about Synanon?
[email protected]

[Anonymous]

I would say that nearly anyone who has really direct information on CED's connection to AA is long gone.  I only know the same thumbnail you outlined.  I'm seeing Chuck's daughter this weekend so I will see if she has anymore info on the AA thing

I do know (and you may too) that the real vision for Synanon came about from a series of LSD experiments that CED participated in conducted at one of the colleges.   I know Bill W also was part of some LSD experiments.  There was some idea in the 50's that LSD could provide some sort of cure for alcoholism.

If I can help with information please don't hesitate to ask.  I am not a member of this group but my e-mail is [email protected]

[Dr Fucktard]

Straight has much closer ties to Synanon than CEDU ever did. Synanon was the model which spawned The Seed, which gave rise to Straight, Inc. Synanon had the right idea, but failed miserably in the marketing dept.