History & overview · every faith gets one
A recovery community that became an all-encompassing communal movement
Synanon began in 1958 as a residential recovery program and developed into a communal movement centered on the confrontational Synanon Game. Charles Dederich declared it a religion in 1974. Its later history included leadership-linked violence and legal disputes; Dederich and two members were convicted after no-contest pleas to conspiracy to murder attorney Paul Morantz.
The founding
Charles Dederich, who had found sobriety through Alcoholics Anonymous, began meetings for people with drug addictions in Santa Monica in 1958. The program developed into a residential community, expanded beyond recovery, and eventually presented permanent communal life as an alternative to ordinary society.
Its founding is bound to Charles E. Dederich Sr. — 1958 CE.