Overdose deaths in King County, Washington state’s largest county, hit 710 by October 15, 2022, surpassing the total number of deaths in 2021.

According to Public Health Insider’s Seattle and King County staff, “Since 2019, the number of overdose deaths in King County has grown exponentially, jumping by 20% between 2019 and 2020 and 39% between 2020 and 2021.” In October this year, that figure reached 710, surpassing the total number of deaths in 2021.

Seattle’s Drug-Free World volunteers are taking action to counter this devastating situation.

 

To bring heightened attention and urgency to the problem and provide real solutions, Seattle’s Drug-Free World volunteers recently distributed 1,000 drug education booklets in downtown Seattle, organized a community open house sponsored by the Church of Scientology, and staffed a booth at the annual conference of the Society of Health and Physical Educators (SHAPE), making available at no cost over 7,000 materials to conference attendees.

At the SHAPE conference, Drug-Free World’s northwest representative Dave Scattergood delivered a seminar based on the Truth About Drugs program which includes an educator’s kit containing a curriculum and all the elements for delivering the program in a classroom setting, including sets of 14 booklets, public service announcements and the award-winning The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories documentary.

A number of educators at the conference enthusiastically relayed how the educational materials have positively affected their ability to teach and reach their students with real solutions to the drug epidemic in our schools.

Klint Van Cleemput, executive director of SHAPE Washington and PE teacher at an elementary school in Seattle, has been using the educational materials in his work with students in the Lake Washington School District. He was also the featured speaker at a recent community open house which addressed current concerns about drug abuse.

In speaking about the drug education materials that have been made available to him and other educators in Washington state, Van Cleemput told the open house crowd: “This is so important – it helps us connect with our students and gets them connected to the sources in a safe and informative manner.”

“Since last year we have done 30 events in Washington state and delivered over 63,000 drug education materials,” said Scattergood. “With the news that drug traffickers are bringing thousands of fentanyl pills and other drugs into our state, we are in a race against time to reach our state’s youth with this vital drug-free message.”

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is one of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education initiatives. The program itself is built on studies that show that when kids are given the truth about drugs—what they really are and what they do—usage rates drop significantly.

The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories documentary is available on the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV Channel 320 and can be streamed at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.

The Church of Scientology Seattle is an Ideal Scientology Organization dedicated in July 2010 by Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige. The Church works extensively with other religions, nonprofits and officials on programs to uplift and benefit the community. For more information on the Church of Scientology Seattle, visit their website at www.Scientology-Seattle.org.