Publisher Helps Fight Crime With the Truth About Drugs

Staff from Bridge Publications Inc. provide educational tools to City of Commerce and East L.A. businesses to help create a safer environment

City of Commerce and nearby East Los Angeles businesses and entrepreneurs are concerned about crime.x That’s one reason that City of Commerce-based Bridge Publications Inc., publisher of the nonfiction works of Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard, shares the Truth About Drugs with the community. Truth About Drugs is a drug education and prevention campaign supported by the Church of Scientology.

Last Month, Los Angeles County authorized $15.6 million to combat the increase of “smash-and-grab” thefts targeting Los Angeles County. Trying to run a business can be challenging in the best of times, and insecurity takes its toll on entrepreneurs already struggling to recover from the economic effects of the pandemic.

There is a close relationship between drug use and crime. In fact, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has found: “For every dollar spent on prevention, at least ten can be saved in future health, social and crime costs.”

So, on a recent afternoon, Bridge volunteers brought sets of Truth About Drugs booklets to local businesses. The booklets explain in detail the harmful effects of drugs on the mind and body. They are provided by Foundation for a Drug-Free World, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free.

The shops and businesses they visited appreciated the outreach of the Bridge volunteers and their concern for the community. At a local pharmacy, an employee asked for more sets of booklets for her colleagues, who immediately started reading and discussing the material.

When the supervisor of a local nonprofit that provides career and business opportunities for youth learned that the volunteers offered free drug-prevention seminars, she asked them to arrange one the following week for the young adults they serve.

The manager of a fast-food restaurant said, “The work you are doing is very important. I see the bad effects of drugs on people in this neighborhood all the time. It is vital to raise awareness about the subject and promote drug prevention.”

A paralegal who manages a legal office specializing in immigration was very receptive to the materials. Aware of the drug issues facing today’s youth, she asked for more boxes of booklets to give to her own children.

Bridge staff distributed some 2,000 booklets and will follow up with delivering requested drug-prevention seminars. They intend to continue their efforts to improve the health and safety of the community by educating people on the truth about drugs.

To read or download these booklets, watch brief videos, or take free online drug education courses, visit the website of Foundation for a Drug-Free World at www.drugfreeworld.org.

To learn more about Bridge Publications, watch an episode Inside Scientology, on the Scientology Network, available on DIRECTV Channel 320, DIRECTV STREAM, AT&T U-verse and streaming at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms. And to participate in future community outreach activities, contact Lucia Winther, Bridge Publications Public Relations Director, at (323) 888-6200 or lwinther@bridgepub.com.