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On any given weekend in cities throughout South Africa, shoppers are likely to bring home something special and unexpected with their purchases—factual information on drugs that give them an entirely new outlook on the subject. The reason? Members of Scientology Churches throughout South Africa have decided to personally tackle the drug problem and its associated crime and misery, by bringing the truth about drugs to their communities.
More than 60% of all crime in South Africa is committed by persons under the influence of drugs or alcohol according to professor Charles Parry, Director of the Drug and Alcohol Abuse Unit at the Medical Research Council (MRC). So tackling this problem is not only vital for users and abusers, it can make a huge difference in the quality of life for all South Africans.
The Church of Scientology sponsors the largest non-governmental anti-drug information and prevention campaign on earth. Drug education stops drug abuse at its source because drug education proofs young people up against peer pressure and pro-drug hype.
On a recent weekend Johannesburg Scientologists distributed drug-education booklets in popular locations throughout their city—at the Campus Square Shopping Center, where they set up displays at two of the entrances; at Greenstone Shopping Centre, a new and very busy shopping spot; and at Asia City in Bruma, where people from all over Gauteng go to shop. They handed out 10,000 Truth About Drugs booklets and were happy to learn that their efforts were effective.
Just from their actions that weekend, a member of the Students Representative Council of the University of Johannesburg asked to have these booklets distributed on the campus; a national TV show suggested doing a show on drug use in South Africa that will feature these volunteers as a solution; in Campus Square, store owners and managers insisted on getting copies of the booklets so that they themselves could hand them out to their customers.
That same weekend, volunteers from the Church of Scientology of Port Elizabeth passed out over 4000 booklets at the Cleary Park Shopping Center and in a shopping district on Goven Mbeki Street. Passers-by eagerly grabbed their copies, assisted by a police superintendent who stopped cars so the volunteers could hand the booklets to the motorists.
"People were thanking us for doing something about the drug problem," said one of the volunteers. "One woman thanked us over and over. She had been a serious drug addict, and she said she knows how important it is to be drug-free and commended us for what we are doing."
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One of the main reasons these activities are successful is that the Scientologists use Truth About Drugs booklets published by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a secular, non-profit organization based in Los Angeles, California. The Foundation was established to meet the increasing demand for the international "Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life" drug prevention program, which has been conducted around the world for more than 20 years by members of Scientology churches in collaboration with the interfaith community, volunteer organizations, educational institutions and government agencies. The Foundation also created a series of drug education public service announcements that are airing on TV stations around the world. For more information visit the Foundation web site at www.drugfreeworld.org.
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