I will agree that it has gotten a bit... SciFi like now.
As far as stealing lives, waste of money, etc. Psychiatry and psychology do the same things; they're just accepted by the "mainstream."
There are some very helpful, and educational, parts to Scientology. Their reading and comprehension courses are second to none. The purification course(a form of detoxification) is excellent, and has been offered, free of charge, to any fire fighter, medic, police officer, etc., who was at ground zero for 9/11, or worked at the clean-up there afterwards, since 2002. Those people breathed in so many toxins that they where dying from poisoning. The purif. has close to a 100% survival rate for the(afore mentioned) people that have been through it. The current medical system isn't any where near that. Going untreated has proven to be 100% fatal.
NarcAnon(a form of drug rehabilitation program) gets people off of drugs. Period. After successfully completing the course, there is no returning to the need for drug use.
There are other things as well, but these I have a bit experience with.