Effective drug prevention programs

Italian volunteers of the Say No To Drugs Campaign picking up syringes.

Fully aware of the devastating effects of drugs, Scientologists are committed to resolving the problem in all its aspects. Their activities include broad public campaigns to inform others — beginning with children, who are, after all, the dealers’ next target — of the dangers of illegal substances, and abuse of even legal substances.
Thus, the churches of Scientology and their parishioners have united concerned parents, experts and community groups and staged public awareness forums, rallies and educational conferences in countries throughout Europe. These include Germany, France, Switzerland, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Greece, Commonwealth of Independent States, Spain, Hungary, Czech Republic and the United Kingdom.
These efforts began as a grassroots movement in the mid 1980s with the simple message, “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life”, directed at teens and young adults who faced peer pressure to experiment with drugs. In the United States, the Church expanded this campaign to include younger children through the “Drug-Free Marshals” programme in which children adopt a pledge to remain drug-free and encourage others to do the same.
In the late 1990s, a search was done to find literature geared to young people with the facts about drugs and drug use in straightforward terms they could understand. Very little was found, so a Scientologist from Switzerland set about to remedy that lack by writing a series of booklets about individual drugs.
These booklets were so popular that the Church undertook to publish them broadly. Presenting facts about cannabis, heroin, cocaine, crack and ecstasy, more than 7 million copies have been distributed in Europe since 2000 alone, providing people of all ages with the vital knowledge that allows them to make informed decisions about drugs.
The booklets have been supplemented with more than 173,000 anti-drug billboards and posters, 42 million drug-prevention fliers, 65,000 public awareness events and more than 5,500 newspaper and television stories promoting the “live drug-free” message. Their positive impact is felt in cities, towns and communities across the continent and in 53 countries internationally.
In Germany, Church volunteers have mailed and distributed more than 450,000 booklets on the dangers of cannabis, an astounding number considering it is a private drug-prevention effort.


Thousands of additional copies of the educational publications have been requested by police officers in charge of drug prevention for use in their own local drug-education programmes. A growing number of physicians throughout Germany, alarmed by the unabated drug use they encounter, display the booklet in waiting rooms for their patients. All national and regional members of parliament and mayors in Germany received a copy of the drug-education booklet on cannabis; some have ordered hundreds of additional copies for their own use.

In France, the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign has become the Church’s largest in the world. The need has never been greater, with one of every three French teenagers having smoked cannabis at least once, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, and with youth exposed to drugs with little to no effective drug education material available.

In response, Church volunteers organise 40 to 50 public events each week promoting the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” message: in Paris, Lyon, St. Etienne, Clermont, Angers, Marseilles, Nice, Bordeaux, Toulouse and Avignon. Reaching hundreds of thousands of people, the volunteers have distributed nearly one million drug education booklets and 20 million fliers. Magazines carry “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” advertisements, while local radio stations promote the campaign with public service announcements and guest interviews on the dangers of cannabis. As a result, in 2003 alone, the “Say No to Drugs” Association received 150,000 requests for more information.

In Italy, Scientologists also donate their time and energies — annually more than 500,000 hours of volunteer community action — to curb the drug problem. Forty to 70 community events are held each week, including sports events and concerts that promote the message “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life,” encouraging young people and adults to take a pledge to be drug-free. More than 1 million copies of drug education booklets have already been distributed.

The anti-drug campaign in Italy has been publicly endorsed by a host of individuals and groups. For example, the editor of the Turin Cronaca newspaper inserted copies of the booklets in newspapers delivered to their subscribers and appeared on television to endorse the campaign. “Say No to Drugs” volunteers participate in annual drug-awareness events in Milan, working with other organisations to end the drug scourge.

As a major element of the campaign, Scientologists, working with government officials, coordinate citywide drives to collect and safely dispose of used hypodermic syringes — potentially lethal hazards — discarded in public parks by addicts. Rome, Verona, Padua, Turin, Brescia, Pordenone, Novara, Monza, Florence and Milan have all benefited from such cleanup drive.

In Denmark, members of the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” Association have taken on the task of informing Members of Parliament, city officials, police chiefs and other community leaders on their successful drug education programme, and are working with these officials to broaden the campaign.
They visit more than 350 cafes, dance halls, libraries, pharmacies and police stations every week and have distributed more than 700,000 drug education booklets.

With thousands of signatures on the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” Honour Roll, Scientologists throughout Denmark have also spearheaded the creation of school environments entirely free from drugs, where students and teachers pledge to permit no tolerance of drugs and to promote their school as drug-free.

In Switzerland, drug prevention events have regularly been held in Zurich, Lucerne, Basel, Bern, Geneva, Lausanne and other cities, at which Scientologists have distributed more than 600,000 drug education booklets, earning the support of law enforcement as well as state and federal Members of Parliament.
Dozens of teachers in Swiss schools use the drug education booklets in their classes. Teachers and administrators order them in large quantities to distribute to their pupils. Police stations have ordered thousands of copies of the booklets for distribution in their stations and anti-drug info stands. The booklets are also found in shops, physicians’ waiting rooms and sports clubs.

Scientologists in Greece sponsor a project called “Do a good deed against drugs” through which they hold “Say No to Drugs” events throughout the country, involving police and local, state and federal government officials. The Church recently released its latest booklet, “Children and Drugs: What to do?” for community distribution.

In the Russian Federation, churches of Scientology organise anti-drug events, concerts and government-sponsored conferences to educate young people and adults on how to live drug-free and encourage others to do the same. Every week volunteers distribute thousands of drug abuse awareness publications in public squares in and around Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Scientologists in Canada operate a national “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign that has gained the support and participation of top government officials. For example, Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs said he is “especially grateful for the job the Church of Scientology is doing in educating people on the drug problem.” Regional and local commanders of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have ordered copies of the Church’s booklets for use in their own drug awareness efforts.

South African Scientologists inaugurated a “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” Honour Roll, with events at schools, clubs and other organisations. Tens of thousands of South Africans have signed the honour roll, including mayors from Port Elizabeth, Cape Town and Soweto. Schoolteachers participate in the “Drug-Free Marshals” programme, and thousands of youth are sworn in and engaged in weekly activities including essays and lectures about the dangers of drug use.

Czech Republic Say NO to Drugs - Say YES to Life

Scientologists in the Czech Republic showed their commitment to ending drug abuse by participating in their third annual Cyclorun earlier this year.


Cyclorun (a composite of cycling and running) is a term coined by members of the Czech Say NO to Drugs - YES to Life group. It describes the actions of the athletes who ran through the towns they visited and then cycled to the next town or city, all the while distributing fliers and booklets about drugs and delivering lectures to children on the harmful effects of drugs. They also promoted their new web site that tells the truth about marijuana at www.marihuana.cz , and met with city officials everywhere they went, getting support and signatures from mayors, senators and other officials on their Towns Without Drugs proclamation.

The athletes were inspired to participate in the Cyclorun by the fact that the Czech Republic has more young users of marijuana than any other country in Europe.

This year's anti-drug Cyclorun started in the town of Hodonin, just a few meters from the Slovakia border and ended 2 weeks later in Prague on June 26th, the United Nations International Day Against Drug Abuse. The Cyclorun covered over 1430 kilometers, visited 40 towns and cities, and delivered anti-drug lectures to over 600 children, gaining enthusiastic support everywhere they traveled.

Foundation for a Drug Free Europe

FOUNDATION FOR A DRUG-FREE EUROPE FORMS IN BRUSSELS WELCOMED BY LEADING REPRESENTATIVES OF CIVIL SOCIETY AS “A BREATH OF FRESH AIR IN A POLLUTED SOCIETY”

The Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe (FDFE) was launched in Brussels with the participation of prominent speakers, members of the Foundation's Advisory Board, European Institution officials, community and religious leaders. FDFE has been formed with the firm purpose of achieving the goal of a drug-free Europe, collaborating with local, national and European institutions and carrying out positive prevention education campaigns.

A secular organization open to people and groups from all sectors of society, the Foundation, created by the Church of Scientology International, has been formed in response to the dramatic increase in demand for their drug prevention activities after it was obvious that there was a real need to coordinate anti-drug public awareness campaigns throughout the European Union. Western Europe is the second largest market for illicit drugs after North America. According to the European Commission's Director-General for Justice and Home Affairs, of the estimated 1.5 million drug users within the EU, half to three quarters of them are injecting drugs. Each year, EU member states report 7,000 to 9,000 drug-related deaths, although the real figure is likely to be much higher.

Amongst the speakers at the presentation held at the conference center of the Brussels-based European Office of the Church of Scientology International, were prominent members of the Advisory Board of the newly created Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe:

Joaquin Antuna - Founder of the International NGO "Peace and Co-operation" and former official of the United Nations.

Miguel Cid Cebrian - Attorney, author and Director of the Spanish Government Cabinet for the National Plan on Drugs (PNSD) until 1996.

David Raynes - Formerly a Senior Custom & Excise Officer concerned with curtailing illicit drug distribution in the U.K.

E. Kenneth Eckersley - Former Magistrate and Retired Justice of the Peace and C.E.O. of A.R.T.S. (Addiction Recovery Training Services).

Asa Graaf - Founder and chairman of Riksorganisationen fvr ett Drogfritt Sverige (Drug-free Sweden) since 1992.

Michael Nielsen - Drug education consultant with over 3000 drug education lectures delivered throughout Europe to children and adults over the last ten years.

Emanuele Ruffinengo - Italian composer, producer, and three-time Grammy Award winner.

The formation of the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe was welcomed by all the speakers during the ceremony and seen as a major institution in the fight against drugs across Europe.

In his speech, Miguel Cid urged that more attention be paid by European institutions and national governments to drug prevention and defined the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe as "breath of fresh air in the polluted current society. The project that this Foundation will generate," continued Miguel Cid, "will greatly contribute to governmental efforts to eradicate the drug problem in society."

"Europe is about to expand to 25 countries. It is very important that the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe can support the effort in tackling drugs across Europe, perhaps taking the focus away from enforcement, where historically it has been, and placing it much more in primary prevention, stopping people from using drugs in the first place."

"In a moment of global challenges, we need global answers and we need global institutions. We need a big institution against drugs. This Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe will be an important contribution to the fight against drugs and public awareness," stated the founder of "Peace and Cooperation", Spanish humanitarian Joaquin Antuna. "I will do all my best for this Foundation, for this global answer."

With the experience of more than 15 years in prevention education and the international anti-drug campaign: "Say 'NO' to Drugs “ Say 'YES' to Life", the grass roots movement coordinated internationally by the Church of Scientology International, there is positive evidence that drug education and prevention can make a difference.

Peter Stoker, Director of the U.K. "National Drug Prevention Alliance" and highly respected for his prevention policy conference speeches at U.K. and international venues, said that "there is an absolute need for someone to speak and act and say there is a ‘better way’. The Foundation has accepted this challenge and represents an exciting potential: a potential which absolutely must be realized."

During the presentation event of the FDFE, the publication, "Saving Lives from Drugs", was presented to the attendees. This is the second of a series of publications intended to fulfil the growing public demand about the far-reaching social betterment and reform activities and its effective solutions based on the effective technologies developed by Scientology's Founder, L. Ron Hubbard. This booklet describes in detail the successful projects conducted by Scientologists throughout Europe to eradicate drugs from society and help individuals and youth to stay away from drugs.

For more information, visit:
www.scientology-europe.org