How a Bike-Loving Italian Anti-Drug Activist is Helping Italy Live Drug-Free

Raising awareness of the benefits of drug-free living and the risks of failing to do so.

Motorbikes roared through the city of Bergamo this June and leaned into the curves around Lake Iseo on one of Italy’s most breathtaking and challenging highways. The bikers wore bright green vests bearing the logo of Foundation for a Drug-Free World proclaiming “Dico No alla Droga” (Say No to Drugs) on the 6th annual Motogiro for a Drug-Free Italy. 

This and many other drug prevention events over the summer and throughout the year are featured on the Scientology Network in an episode of Voices for Humanity. They are the work of a team of drug education and prevention activists led by Drug-Free World Italy Executive Director Oreste Depaoli.

Depaoli recalls his childhood, hanging out with older boys who introduced him to using drugs when he was 12. An addict by 19, he overdosed and nearly died. And he realized that if he continued on this path, it would kill him. That was in 1992.

He quit cold turkey and has never looked back. But many of his friends died of overdose or drug-related accidents and he wanted to do something effective to handle the blatant false propaganda that leads so many youth down the same dangerous path as the one he took. So when he learned about Foundation for a Drug-Free World, he immediately came on board.

“More and more people are dying of drug overdose in Italy every year,” says Depaoli. “Where there are drugs, there are guns, crime and death. ... People are not well informed about what drugs are and what they do. And there are active campaigns in our society that make it look like drugs do no harm. … If people knew what drugs really lead to, they could choose not to take them.” 

The Truth About Drugs campaign of Foundation for a Drug-Free World provides that information. Drug-Free World Foundation is an international nonprofit organization that partners with some 1,200 organizations and government and law enforcement agencies worldwide to educate the public on the danger of drugs.

Using the resources from Foundation for a Drug-Free World, volunteers in countries across the globe are reaching their communities with this vital information. Foundation for a Drug-Free World also provides drug education eCourses free of charge through the Drug-Free World website.

Thanks to the support of the Church of Scientology and Scientologists, the Foundation provides the Truth About Drugs secular program and materials free of charge to drug educators worldwide. Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard noted the role substance abuse plays in the disintegration of the social fabric. He wrote, “Research has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.”

Voices for Humanity is available on Scientology Network on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM, AT&T U-verse and can be streamed at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms. Since launching with a special episode featuring Scientology ecclesiastical leader Mr. David Miscavige, Scientology Network has been viewed in 240 countries and territories worldwide in 17 languages.