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HTML Title:
Truth About Drugs Empowers Venezuelans to Fight Narcotics Scourge
Display Date:
Friday, November 30, 2012
Display Location:
Venezuela
Images:
Scientologists spread drug education and prevention throughout the country based on the Truth About Drugs, described in new publication released November 13 by Church of Scientology and Scientologists
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The Venezuela drug scene has senior citizens worried. According to the World Health Organization, drug abuse in the country has escalating by 30 percent in the last 10 years, with reports of children as young as nine consuming narcotics.
Maracaibo Scientologists volunteering at the Mano de Dios nursing home found residents alarmed about the future of their grandchildren in a world threatened by drugs. So the volunteers added drug education to the entertainment and recreational activities they were doing with the seniors to help them assist their families live drug-free.
“Drugs are a scourge that affects youth and adults,” says Scientologist Mario Chirinos, Executive Director of the Say No to Drugs Foundation of Venezuela. “It is vital for Venezuelans of all ages to do their part to reverse these trends.”
Chirinos, active in the Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life campaign for the past four years, says, “We use the Truth About Drugs materials [10] because they are the best weapon there is against drugs.”
Based in Maracaibo, Chirinos and his volunteers organize seminars throughout the country. In one recent week, volunteers not only brought the Truth About Drugs [11] to the Mano De Dios nursing home, they also held drug prevention workshops in San Cristobal City for 20 employees of a company that markets GPS systems, in Caracas for 40 employees of a bank and 10 employees of a chemical engineering firm, and in Valencia for 70 students who are required to perform social service to earn their degree.
They provide drug education seminars to law enforcement officers and to inmates in jails and prisons where many are serving time for drug-related crime.
To bring news of the Truth About Drugs to the people of his country, Chirinos is also a frequent guest on radio shows.
“In the face of a drug problem as severe as ours, the lack of effective drug education and prevention tools to help youth avoid addiction makes people feel powerless,” says Chirinos. “But we can make a difference. The answer is to reach our children with effective drug education before they reach for drugs.”
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The Church of Scientology has published a new brochure, Scientology: How We Help—The Truth About Drugs, Creating a Drug-Free World, to meet requests for more information about the drug education and prevention initiative it supports. To read a copy of the brochure or to learn more about the drug education program, visit the Scientology website [12] at http://www.Scientology.org/antidrug [13].
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Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “The planet has hit a barrier which prevents any widespread social progress—drugs and other biochemical substances. These can put people into a condition which not only prohibits and destroys physical health but which can prevent any stable advancement in mental or spiritual well-being.”
The Church of Scientology supports the Truth About Drugs, one of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaigns. It has been conclusively proven that when young people are provided with the truth about drugs—factual information on what drugs are and what they do—usage rates drop commensurately.