Los Angeles Scientology Church sponsors drug prevention program

Did you know the Drug-Free Marshals were born in LA? It was 17 years ago. Since then they've grown and chapters have opened all over the world from Capetown to Tokyo and from Philly to Paris.

In 2005 at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre in Hollywood, David Miscavige described the program Scientology sponsors to tackle the drug problem. Drugs aren't just killers in their own right (which they are) but they are also lead to crime (to support habits) medical catastrophes requiring long-term treatment and surgery and wreck families with all the problems this

Drug-Free World - supported by the Church of Scientology.

Scientology Volunteers Attack Drug Abuse in Sydney

Scientology youth attack drug abuse at 26th annual Glebe Street Fair.

Members of the Church of Scientology of Sydney, Australia, who belong to the Drug-Free Ambassadors were out in force Sunday, November 15, distributing thousands of fliers at the 26th annual Glebe Street Fair. Their purpose: to inform kids about drug abuse and the truth about drugs so they make informed decisions to stay drug free.

Concerned about a new drug called Mephedrone, or “MM-Cat,” that Sydney students and club goers buy over the Internet, the Drug-Free Ambassadors spent the day talking to kids and teens, swearing them in as Drug-Free Ambassadors. New Drug-Free Ambassadors take a pledge to be drug free and to help their family and friends do the same.

“The drug-free message is really important to get out in times like these,” said Drug-Free Ambassadors spokesperson Cyrus Brooks. “People are bombarded with bad news in the media and they look for escape, especially young people. Unfortunately there is a lot of false propaganda around that drugs and alcohol provide that escape. We need to attack these lies as it’s just not true.”

Brooks and his Drug-Free Ambassador team inform youth of the short-term effects of drugs such as Mephedrone and Ecstasy, which include paranoia and depression, and that users risk even more serious long-term effects such as kidney failure and cardiovascular collapse.

Cocaine, another popular “party drug,” has similar effects but can also cause tactile hallucination, with some kids talking about having the sensation of bugs burrowing into their skin. This drug can also cause reproductive damage and infertility. “Drugs like these ruin lives,” says Brooks. “The best solution is to not get caught in the drug trap in the first place.”

At the Glebe Street Fair the Drug-Free Ambassadors distributed a brochure explaining what drugs are, how they destroy creativity and why drugs don’t actually bring happiness, but quite the opposite. Dixon Restaurant in Chinatown and the Church of Scientology of Australia funded the printing of the brochure, which is being translated into Chinese and Korean to get the word out to Sydney’s Asian population too.

Drug-Free Ambassadors, founded by the Church of Scientology in 1993, helps communities all over Australia fight the scourge of drugs. For more information on the Drug-Free Ambassadors of Sydney visit their web site at www.drugfreeambassadors.com.au.

Drug-Free Marshals of Los Angeles Promote Red Ribbon Anti-Drug Week

Scientology-sponsored group helps hundreds of Los Angeles youth commit to living drug-free lives in commemoration of Red Ribbon Week 2009.

The Drug-Free Marshals chapter sponsored by the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles swore in hundreds of youth to live drug-free lives at a ceremony Saturday in honor of the 21st anniversary of Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon Week honors the life of DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena whose death in 1985 was a wakeup call to the dangers of drugs and the drug trade. Camarena, an 11-year DEA agent working undercover in Mexico, was on the way to breaking up a multibillion-dollar drug pipeline when he was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by Mexican drug traffickers.

In 1988, the National Family Partnership sponsored the first National Red Ribbon Week, with President and Mrs. Reagan its honorary chairpersons. Community groups, schools and churches hold yearly events to commemorate Camarena’s work and rally support for drug education and prevention.

The Drug-Free Marshals takes its name from the U.S. marshals, a force for good popularized in novels and movies about the American West. The program was founded by the Church of Scientology in Los Angeles in 1993. Since then the program has helped more than 3 million youth worldwide pledge to be drug-free.

The Los Angeles Drug-Free Marshals and their parents “armed” themselves with booklets published by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World that provide information on the most commonly used drugs, such as marijuana, alcohol, heroin, crystal meth, prescription drugs, inhalants and painkillers.

“We need to educate our children about drug and alcohol abuse. Our children are constantly exposed to drugs at school, on television, and in movies, so if we don’t tell them the truth, you can be sure that the drug-dealers will tell them lies. By early intervention we can prevent drug abuse, which also leads to violence,” said Edie Reuveni, President of the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles. “Studies show a direct link between youth involvement in drugs and gang violence. Humanitarian, L. Ron Hubbard said, ‘When children become unimportant to a society, that society has forfeited its future.’ Unless we educate our children and take responsibility for them, we all lose.”

For more information about the drug education and prevention programs sponsored by the Church of Scientology visit www.scientology.org.

Be Temperate

All the Way to Happiness videos are online as part of the Scientology Video site.

What I like best about these videos is they make the point on the need to live a moral and ethical life without being preachy. The video on "be temperate" is a classic example. It's funny but really gets in there and makes it clear it's up to you to make the choices about what you're going to do with your life.

You can watch them by going to the tab for "the Way to Happiness" below the video viewer and clicking on The Way to Happiness Public Service Announcements.