Drug-Free World at the Paris Olympics and a Million Reasons to Not Do Drugs

Paris embraces the Truth About Drugs at the world’s foremost sporting event

With the eyes of the world on Paris, and some 6 million gathered in the city and other host venues for the 2024 Olympics, Foundation for a Drug-Free World organized a massive distribution of drug education booklets. Hundreds of volunteers from Non à la Drogue, Oui à la Vie (No to Drugs, Yes to Life Association) were delighted to find broad-based support from individuals and groups eager to contribute to the cause. 

“Drugs are at the root of immeasurable human suffering,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in his message on the International Day Against Drug Abuse this year. “Evidence-based drug prevention programmes can protect people and communities alike, while taking a bite out of illicit economies that profit from human misery.”

“This is what has driven the Foundation’s work since its inception,” says Foundation for a Drug-Free World Executive Director Jessica Hochman, “providing fact-based education to empower youth and adults to make the informed decision to live drug-free.”

 

“Reaching out with a million Truth About Drugs booklets was a huge challenge,” said one Non à la Drogue volunteer. “But we were welcomed by fans at Olympic venues and people we met on the streets. Shopkeepers saw the importance of sharing these booklets with their customers and were eager to take part in our outreach. We took on the challenge and hitting that target was amazing.”

“I heard so many poignant stories from people of all ages and backgrounds. Nearly everyone we spoke to suffered personally or experienced the devastating effects of drug abuse on a loved one or friend,” said another volunteer. “It was empowering to see how many people took our booklets seriously and wanted to contribute to our campaign.”

Noting the role substance abuse plays in the disintegration of the social fabric, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, “Research has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.”

Foundation for a Drug-Free World was formed in 2006 to serve as a primary distributor of educational materials and to develop new materials to meet the challenge of continually changing drug trends. The Foundation has grown to a network of some 200 chapters around the world. Thanks to the support of the Church of Scientology and Scientologists, it provides the Truth About Drugs secular program and materials free of charge to anyone wishing to take action to address this urgent issue.

Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free. Through a worldwide network of volunteers, millions of drug prevention booklets have been distributed, and tens of thousands of drug awareness events have been held in some 180 countries. These materials and activities have helped people around the world learn about the destructive side effects of drugs and thereby make the decision for themselves not to use them. The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations.

For more information or to take the Foundation’s free online drug education course, visit drugfreeworld.org/course/.