Italian drug prevention activists bikers took part in the first Drug-Free World national motorcycle tour of Italy to raise awareness about drug abuse and addiction and encourage youth to live drug-free lives.

A team of motorbike enthusiasts completed a five-day, 2,800 km (1,740 mile) circuit of Italy in the name of a drug-free country. They did so to sound the alarm on the dangers of drug abuse.

Italy saw an almost four-fold increase in opioid prescriptions from 2007 to 2015. Meanwhile, overdose deaths in the U.S. are continuing to spike from the practice of adding fentanyl to other drugs of choice. The recent seizure of an estimated 4 million deadly doses of fentanyl in a coordinated drug bust involving Italy, several other European nations and the United States, raises the specter of the crisis spreading to other countries.

The five-day motorbike tour, “Mettiamoci in moto per un'Italia Libera dalla Droga” (”Let's ride for a drug-free Italy”), began at the Church of Scientology in Milan and traveled down to Florence, Pisa and Rome, along the west coast of Italy to Salerno, across to Apuglia and Martina Franca, back up the eastern coast to Senigallia and Corinaldo, inland to Modena and up to Padua for the final leg of the journey. Scientology Churches and Missions helped coordinate each leg of the tour.

Along the route, the drug-prevention activists met with city councilors, mayors, police, aldermen, religious leaders, Scouts, nonprofits, service organizations, business associations and sports clubs. They introduced them to the educational materials of Foundation for a Drug-Free World and formed new partnerships to expand the reach and effectiveness of the campaign.

This year’s World Drug Report found that over the last 24 years, “cannabis potency had increased by as much as four times in parts of the world, even as the percentage of adolescents who perceived the drug as harmful fell by as much as 40 per cent, despite evidence that cannabis use is associated with a variety of health and other harms, especially among regular long-term users.

"Lower perception of drug use risks has been linked to higher rates of drug use,” said United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime Executive Director Ghada Waly on the release of the report, “and the findings of UNODC’s 2021 World Drug Report highlight the need to close the gap between perception and reality to educate young people and safeguard public health.”

The Church of Scientology provides Truth About Drugs resources free of charge to educators, parents, school resource officers, nonprofits and community leaders.

The Truth About Drugs initiative:

• Is available in 20 languages in 96 countries.
• Its public service announcements and The Truth About Drugs—Real People, Real Stories documentary have aired on 850 TV stations.
• More than 395,000 people have enrolled on the free online drug education eCourse on the Foundation for a Drug-Free World website at www.drugfreeworld.org.
• The Foundation has reached some 13 million students through more than 30,000 schools, institutions and groups that use the Truth About Drugs curriculum.

In his research into the devastating impact of drugs on society, author, humanitarian and Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Research has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.” This galvanized the Church and Scientologists to initiate the Truth About Drugs, a secular program through which they have worked for the past 15 years to empower millions with the truth about drugs.