Drug-Free World Kansas City to be Recognized by City Council for Drug Prevention Efforts

The Kansas City Chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World provides facts to the community with a grassroots education and prevention campaign.

With Red Ribbon Week on the horizon—a national campaign to encourage drug prevention activities during the last week of October—Kansas City Missouri City Council will be recognizing the Kansas City chapter of Foundation for a Drug-Free World. 

 

The special acknowledgment is sponsored by 5th District Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw and will be held at City Hall on October 13 at 3 p.m. 

The vital need for drug education and prevention is clear:

• In the United States, drug use among eighth graders increased 61 percent between 2016 and 2020, while one out of eight teenagers reported having abused illicit substances in the last year.
• Drug overdose is the #1 cause of death of people aged 18-45 with more people in this age range dying from fentanyl overdoses than COVID-19, gun violence and car crashes combined. 
•  As reported on the DEA website, Missouri’s overdose deaths topped 2,000, based on the 12-month period ending September 2021. This is an increase of nearly 12 percent. 
• In addition, the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services indicates that the Kansas City Metro Region had a 40 percent increase in total drug overdose deaths in the first half of 2021 for the state of Missouri.

Volunteers from Drug-Free World Kansas City engage in prevention efforts through education. Using the Foundation’s “Truth About Drugs” resources, tens of thousands of Kansas Citians have been reached and equipped with the facts about drugs—knowledge they need to make their own informed decisions not to take drugs in the first place.

“Drug abuse is a growing concern for our citizens, especially amongst youth,” said 5th District Councilwoman Ryana Parks-Shaw. “As a long-time healthcare executive and a co-chair of the Health Commission, I have first-hand knowledge of how destructive and prevalent drugs have become. I believe that the only way that we will significantly change this situation for the better is through prevention efforts such as those that the Foundation for a Drug-Free World is engaged in." 

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.

All are welcome to attend this event at City Hall and to encourage local officials and community leaders to support drug prevention and education efforts.

To learn more about the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, visit www.drugfreeworld.org/ where you can request free information and educator kits, and take free online courses to learn more. 

Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a volunteer-based organization, with hundreds of groups internationally, many of them hosted by Churches of Scientology. The Church of Scientology Kansas City is the main sponsor of the local program. The support of Scientology Churches and Scientologists enables the Foundation to provide this secular program and materials free of cost to drug educators worldwide.