From the Center for Investigative Reporting in PRX, this is Reveal.

I'm Al-Letson.

This is chapter 3 of American Rehab, a venomous snake.

Last time, we started telling you about the first nationally recognized drug rehab.

It was called synonym and found it by a charismatic guy named Charles Dietrich.

We can take credit for literally getting thousands and thousands and thousands of people off of crippling addiction, fatal addiction.

We have done that. We've done it here.

By the late 60s, synonym was widely respected with a national presence and a celebrated treatment program.

It had intake centers in cities all over the country and commune-style rehabs.

They had improved the lives of many people, including John Stallone.

That was great flow. It's the lamb.

Save my life man. That wouldn't be who I am.

After claiming to have found a cure for drug addiction, synonym got more ambitious.

Could it tackle other problems in society?

We are an experimental society.

I don't know how this is going to come out.

I really don't. If I knew how it is going to come out, I wouldn't do it.

This was the golden era of experimental societies, what the rest of us might call cults.

Synonym started recruiting people who weren't addicted to join its ranks.

It promised a new life for recruits full of all work and no pay.

For those at the top like Chuck, synonym delivered a lush lifestyle.

The asshole that's doing all the work.

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