Narconon of Okla. CEO opens up

In July, 2News reporter Sara Goldenberg shed light on Oklahoma's Narconon Arrowhead, a non-medical drug rehabilitation facility in Canadian, Okla.

The program, which has been closely tied to L. Ron Hubbard and Scientology, has seen four patients die while under facility care since 2009.

At the time of our initial story, three patients had died on Narconon Arrowhead grounds in nine months.

Last week, NBC's Rock Center aired the results of an investigation into the rehab facility for the first time.

After an initial statement from Narconon CEO Gary Smith, 2News received an expanded letter from Smith defending the care of its patients.

Here is the letter in its entirety.

AN OPEN LETTER FROM NARCONON ARROWHEADS CEO, GARY W. SMITH

To the grieving parents I want to say that I know what it is like to lose a child. My wife and I have struggled through every birthday, every Christmas and the date of death, year after year for nearly two decades now. I understand at a gut level what these parents are going through and how desperate they are for answers they need to explain the terrible loss. I also know there are no set rules in how someone grieves for a lost loved one. If going public in search of those answers is how one is going to deal with a loss of this magnitude I understand that and I respect them and their right to do so.

There are structured regulatory and administrative procedures that are followed in Oklahoma whenever there are critical incidents that raise public safety concerns. Narconon Arrowhead has cooperated fully and openly with all the agencies involved in this process and will continue to do so until a full accounting of all the facts in these matters can be assembled. This matter is best left in the hands of the participating agencies who can maintain unbiased objectivity.

The facts in this case and the thousands of lives that have been saved from drug addiction because of the Narconon program over the last 20 years are getting lost in the unsubstantiated claims from too many outside sources that are not party to the circumstances surrounding these incidents, the Narconon Arrowhead program or the agencies that are investigating the public safety concerns in these matters.

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Narconon of Okla. CEO opens up