Broad public campaigns from Italy to Australia are sponsored by churches of Scientology to inform others of the dangers of drugs—especially children. They involve concerned community groups, public awareness forums, anti-drug rallies and educational conferences. The Churches’ work in drug education and prevention of addiction has been acclaimed worldwide.

ully aware of the devastating effects of drugs, Scientologists are committed to resolving the drug problem in all its different aspects. Their activities include broad public campaigns to inform others of the dangers of drugs—especially children. Thus, the churches of Scientology have united concerned community groups and staged public awareness forums, anti-drug rallies and educational conferences.

In the United States, for example, Church-sponsored anti-drug campaigns have helped millions of people by fighting further drug proliferation. They have done so by enlisting the aid of celebrities for concerts with anti-drug themes; by raising funds for youth groups such as the Police Activities League, which provides tutorial services for disadvantaged youth; and by hosting conferences of community leaders involved in anti-drug activities.

The director of the Office for Substance Abuse Prevention of the U.S. Department of Health commended the Church for its drug-fighting initiative: “It is because of the participation of dedicated groups like yours that we are making progress in the reduction of alcohol and other drug problems.”

Scientologists across the U.S. rallied to join the “Lead the Way to a Drug-Free USA” program, and to encourage youth to be drug-free through the “Drug-Free Marshals” campaign, which has become one of the most successful grass-roots endeavors of its kind and today is international in scope.

........................... Wherever one finds a Church of Scientology, one will find Scientologists making a concerted effort to turn youth and adults away from drugs. ...........................

The program deputizes children as Drug-Free Marshals who adopt a pledge and engage in activities to keep themselves, their friends and family drug-free.

The campaign began in April 1993 when 200 children between the ages of six and 13 were sworn in by the director of the Los Angeles Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Drug Demand Reduction Program. Since that time, tens of thousands of children and adults—including United States senators and congressmen, state legislators, mayors, judges and police chiefs—have joined the Drug-Free Marshals.