‘It Takes a Community to Protect Kids From the Harmful Effects of Drugs,’ Say the Volunteers of Say No to Drugs Puglia  

Reaching youth with the Truth About Drugs campaigns before traffickers and dealers do

A group known as Say No to Drugs (Dico No Alla Droga) has been active in drug prevention for more than 15 years throughout Puglia, the region that forms the heel of the boot of Italy. But they say it has never been more important for the community to pull together to reach youth on the subject of drugs. The group is an affiliate of Foundation for a Drug-Free World. Joined by a corps of volunteers from the Church of Scientology Mission of Barletta, they contacted businesses and briefed individuals on the Truth About Drugs campaign to help kids decide to live an active, drug-free life.

Wearing their signature teal T-shirts and caps, they loaded up with sets of drug education booklets and brought them to popular shops in the city center to ensure youth have the information they need to make the self-determined decision to live drug-free.

Shop owners and clerks were eager to display sets of Truth About Drugs materials on their counters for customers to take. They even wore Truth About Drugs T-shirts and caps to help the volunteers promote the campaign and encouraged customers to take copies of the booklets to read and share with others.

 

Say No to Drugs Puglia also provides local schools with drug education booklets, DVDs and a curriculum teachers can use to engage children on this vital subject. Many local schools use these materials for drug education classes, beginning in the sixth grade, when kids typically have their first contact with substances such as alcohol and marijuana.

Schools ask them for additional drug information materials to hand out to kids for carrying out research and group projects. And the Say No to Drugs team frequently holds drug prevention lectures and conferences to educate anyone willing to take action to help youth decide to live drug-free.

Scientology Churches and Scientologists support the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, whose materials are provided free of charge to schools, civic groups, governments, law enforcement, and individuals and institutions in the private sector. The Truth About Drugs program is inspired by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s research, that “the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs.”

To learn more, take the free drug education course on the Foundation for a Drug-Free World website, watch the Drug-Free World public service announcements and The Truth About Drugs documentary on the Scientology Network, and episodes of Voices for Humanity to see the program in action. The Scientology Network is available on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM, AT&T U-verse and streams at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps, and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.

For more information or to get involved, visit the Drug-Free World website, or contact the nearest Scientology Church or Mission.