Utah police officer Kelly Call was exposed to dozens of meth labs over the years and has had short-term memory loss, shortness of breath and trouble sleeping. He is feeling etter, and he credits sweating – lots of it, says the Salt Lake Tribune. Call is one of eight retired and current Utah police officers undergoing – at taxpayer expense – an clinic’s detoxification treatment based on Scientology teachings. Its medical director, Gerald Ross, acknowledges no studies have been conducted to show whether the program helps people exposed to meth.
Experts are skeptical. Call and other officers are convinced the treatments work, and Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff argues they are a worthwhile expense. Shurtleff is paying a $50,000 grant to Bio Cleansing Centers of America to treat eight officers, and has urged Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to spend another $140,000 to treat another 20 officers. “Yes, it’s speculative,” Ross said of the regimen. “But there is no other treatment being offered for these officers. We just feel from an ethical point of view, it’s a reasonable thing to do.” The Bio Cleansing Centers of America uses protocols from the New York 9/11 Rescue Workers Detoxification Program, a controversial Scientology clinic founded to treat people after the attacks. That program is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s teachings, which claim poisons can be flushed from body fat with a regimen of jogging, oil ingestion, sauna and high doses of vitamins.