Kaohsiung Community Rallies to Counter Drugs at Scientology Church

Officials, community and religious leaders work together to bring The Truth About Drugs to every child, teen in Taiwan.

City councilors, legislators, police, district officers and school principals joined the staff and volunteers of the Church of Scientology of Kaohsiung on June 26 in an International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking conference.

The open house helped put into action programs to accomplish the UN’s theme for the day: “Let’s develop our lives, or communities, our identities without drugs.”

“Let’s develop our lives, or communities,
our identities without drugs.”  

One of the most frequently abused drugs in Taiwan is ketamine, otherwise known as Ecstasy. This drug creates problems not only for those abusing it, but for the entire city of Kaohsiung. Last year, the quantity of ketamine in Kaohsiung rivers spiked to dangerous levels during the annual Spring Scream music festival—which officials say is not surprising when an estimated half the country’s club-goers are said to have abused the drug.

 

The Church of Scientology knows the effectiveness of drug education first hand.

In hundreds of Taiwan schools where they have conducted Truth About Drugs lectures and workshops, their work has resulted in rave reviews from teachers and students. They have inspired hundreds of thousands of students to pledge to live drug-free.

 

But there are more than 5 million students enrolled in some 8,000 schools on the island and potentially every one of them is at risk from the lure of drugs.

So, in the tradition that has earned the Church 10 consecutive annual Taiwan Ministry of Interior Religious Recognition Awards for their humanitarian activities, their volunteers continue drug education lectures. Simultaneously, the Kaohsiung Church is reaching out to public officials, NGOs and other organizations to activate and train a legion of mentors to bring The Truth About Drugs to every classroom in Taiwan.

Hence, their World Drug Day event, where Scientologists set up a stage in front of their Church on one of the busiest thoroughfares in the city, to reach out to many and invite everyone to join in this endeavor.

The Truth About Drugs initiative draws on the Church’s three decades of drug education and prevention work in countries around the world. The materials and resources include:

• A series of 14 fact-filled booklets, including one on Ecstasy, that inform youth without scare tactics, empowering them to make their own decisions to live drug-free;
  
• A series of 16 “They Said, They Lied” public service announcements, depicting the destructive consequences of the most prevalent drugs;
  
• The hard-hitting The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories documentary, featuring former users who themselves survived life-shattering addiction.
  

These materials are available in 17 languages including Chinese.

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World provides the Truth About Drugs Education Package free of charge to educators. The Truth About Drugs digital curriculum, available through their website, provides lesson plans and resources for download. Any teacher, parent or mentor may create a virtual classroom to conduct a full education program, with all student assignments performed directly on the site and every element transformed into apps for the iPad and iPhone.