A Church of Scientology-affiliated rehabilitation center in Spring Hill has come under scrutiny for possibly treating patients at an unlicensed site, according to the Tampa Bay Times.
When the Narconon treatment center, called Suncoast Rehabilitation Center, was told it could not expand at the current site, it rented three other locations, the Times reports. Church officials said the therapeutic classes were conducted at the rented location, the Times reports.
On Friday, the Florida Department of Children and Families issued a temporary permit to provide services at the rented space, after the Times said it had been asking about the facility. A DCF official told the Times the center did not want to be operating outside the law.
(Editor's note: Health News Florida posts links to major articles about Scientology because of the church's general opposition to psychiatry, psychotropic medications and other aspects of traditional approaches to mental illness. The church was started by writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s; its spiritual headquarters is in Clearwater.)