A team of volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Athens marked United Nations International Day against Drugs Abuse and Illicit Trafficking with a drug prevention event providing the truth about drugs.

The motto of this year’s United Nations International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking—“Make health your ‘new high’ in life, not drugs”—is particularly relevant in Greece. Recent media reports alarming increases in illicit drug use including injected drugs that contribute to the 200 percent increase in HIV in the country. These reports point to anxiety and despair over the country’s financial crisis as a key factor fueling this epidemic.

To help deter fellow Athenians from embarking on this destructive path, volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Athens set up a booth at Constitution (Syntagma) Square in the heart of Athens, distributed thousands of copies of the Truth About Drugs educational booklets and encouraged those visiting the booth to sign a pledge to live drug-free

Commenting on the reason people take drugs and the futility of their doing so, the Truth About Drugs booklet states: “They think drugs are a solution. But eventually, the drugs become the problem. Difficult as it may be to face one’s problems, the consequences of drug use are always worse than the problem one is trying to solve with them.”

The booklets describe the most commonly used drugs—how they work and the mental and physical effects they create. It has been translated into 17 languages and distributed across 188 countries.

The Church of Scientology has published a 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 learn more or read a copy of the brochure, visit the Scientology website.

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.