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June 30, 2001
Association Takes On Drug Problem in France
Scientologists are tackling the drug problem at its roots with a broad information and education campaign aimed at prevention
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Today, heroin abuse in France is so widespread that some authorities, rather than trying to stem the epidemic, advocate legalization to try to curb crime rates and the devastating health and social ills that go with the drug.
Volunteers with the Church of Scientology’s “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign are taking a different approach: informing and educating youth and the public at large about drugs to prevent their abuse in the first place.
“So much effort is being spent on the symptoms of drug abuse. It’s like trying to stop a train after it derailed,” said Agnes Bron, spokesperson for the campaign in France. “Of course the symptoms have to be dealt with, but the vast majority of the effort should be going to education and prevention.”
The Say No to Drugs Association distributes informative pamphlets on drugs. The most recent, “Heroin: Death in the Blood,” is a well-documented publication which presents the truth based on the experience of those whose lives have been shattered by abuse of the highly addictive drug.
The “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign, which began in French-speaking Switzerland close to a decade ago, has become known throughout France, from Paris to Bordeaux, from Nice to Marseille — and has spread to countries around the world.
The campaign is an initiative of members of the Churches of Scientology. Remarkably, amid the sea of chemical “solutions” now available for the problems of living, one group has remained 100 percent drug-free — members of the Church of Scientology. While Scientologists are not opposed to the use of medical drugs and antibiotics for the treatment of physical conditions, they use neither street drugs nor any of the dangerous pharmaceuticals pushed as a solution to everything from depression to overweight. To Scientologists, the reason is simple: drugs not only threaten one physically but spiritually.
Churches of Scientology deliver counseling and training services that effectively remove the real reasons people turn to drugs, and they organize and support drug education and prevention campaigns in countries throughout the world. Church members also support the widely acclaimed Narconon drug rehabilitation program, which has more than 70 centers in 29 countries.
Volunteers of the Say No to Drugs campaign provide factual information about drugs and meet with teenagers in person to deliver a clear and simple message: Despite what you see on television or in magazines, drugs are not “chic.” They are deadly.
“The only lasting way to fight drugs is to provide accurate information which prevents people from turning to them in the first place,” said Bron.
“A young person who is unaware of the dangers of drugs may smoke a joint of cannabis in order to be just like their friends, falsely assuming the drugs will do them no harm,” continued Bron. “But would you board a plane knowing your pilot had just smoked a joint before takeoff?”
The First Step Towards Prevention
Unable to establish an efficient prevention policy, some government officials instead push for “liberalization” of drug laws including legalization of so-called “soft” drugs such as marijuana, as well as even heroin. Show business and media figures have also lobbied heavily to sell the idea to the public.
“It’s trying to solve the wrong problem,” said Bron. “We sorely lack enough measures for education and prevention, and rehabilitation programs that get to the root of why a person turns to drugs in the first place.”
Few substances are more deadly than heroin. Once the currency of street addicts who injected it directly into the veins, heroin is today touted among the more affluent as a fashionable drug which can be smoked in glass pipes or sniffed like cocaine.
Yet many of those who start on the drug soon find themselves gradually increasing their dosage, looking for stronger and stronger trips. Within a short time they are hooked, their lives unraveling out of control.
“Heroin: Death in the Blood” describes the consequences of heroin use in stark and sometimes chilling detail.
“Heroin cut me off from the world,” said one addict interviewed for the booklet. “My parents shut me off. My friends and my sisters did not want to see me any more. I was alone.”
“I am 16, I am on hard drugs and I know that my life is finished,” said another young addict.
“Before, I did not know that drugs could kill,” said a grieving mother. “Now my son is dead and I would like to tell my story and help other parents.”
The booklet includes precise information to assist parents in keeping their children from succumbing to the trap of substance abuse. It is the third in a series of similar publications which include “Drugs: The Truth About Joints” and “Ecstasy: The Traitor Exposed.” All are distributed throughout France as part of the Church of Scientology’s Say No to Drugs campaign as a public service.
“The first step toward preventing addiction is never to start taking drugs in the first place,” concluded Bron.
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