While Government Officials Fight the Current Epidemic of Drug Overdoses, What is Being Done to Prevent Future Users?
Drug-Free World program takes on the challenge of drug prevention before addiction begins with its unique “They said/They lied” free videos and documentaries
Stepping up to the challenge of drug abuse prevention is the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
“A lot is said about the cause of the drug overdose crisis, but little has been said about prevention and education. Treatment and recovery programs are vitally important, but what is more important is drug prevention in the form of drug education,” explained Sue Taylor of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World in Washington, D.C. “While West Virginia leads the country with 57.8 deaths per 100,000 population, Ohio (46.3 per 100,000), Pennsylvania (44.3 per 100,000), and the District of Columbia (44 per 100,000) also have serious drug problems.”
To help confront the crisis in the Nation’s Capital, Drug-Free World joined a coalition, comprised of the U.S. Attorney’s Office D.C., the D.C. Prevention Center and other community activists and religious groups. It is serving as a model for communities everywhere fighting the drug problem in cooperation with law enforcement.
“We have run across too many people saying ‘My friends told me that drugs would help me study, would help me be more confident, would help me get more friends or feel better,’ said Taylor. “These lies are countered directly with the Drug-Free World’s ‘They Said/They Lied’ videos and documentaries which expose the lies of those selling drugs and fill the void with correct drug facts.”
D.C.’s Foundation for a Drug-Free World chapter has reached thousands of citizens in the greater Washington, D.C. area with its Truth About Drugs educational booklets, DVDs, and teacher’s curriculum. Youth and adults are being educated on opioids, K2, prescription drugs, the new synthetic marijuana and others drugs such as fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid similar to morphine but 50 to 100 times more potent. Varying percentages of Fentanyl are being added to other drug substances and the user has no idea what he is taking. Many of the opioid deaths are from fentanyl mixed with heroin.
Struggling with the opioid epidemic that has resulted in over 700 deaths3 since 2014, Washington, D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser has a proposal to halve the opioid usage and deaths by 2020, centering on prevention, treatment, and recovery.
“In 2017 the number of fatal opioid overdoses in the District more than tripled from the past three years, to 279 deaths. Nearly 81% of deaths were among older African-American males and roughly 20% had used heroin for more than 40 years,” said D.C. Council Member Charles Allen in testimony before the City’s Committee on Health in January of 2019.
Speaking from experience, Taylor said, “We need to intervene and get to people well before they are introduced to drugs with educational materials so they are truthfully informed about drugs, can withstand peer pressure and the false statements about street drugs as well as prescription drugs. Correct information can be a powerful tool to use against those who will tell lies to make thousands if not millions of dollars getting people hooked on drugs, devastating our communities.”
In the face of the ever growing abuse of drugs and especially the various forms of opioids, Drug-Free World offers drug booklets on 13 different drugs, an education package with a teacher’s guide curriculum, documentaries and public service announcements on all 13 drugs. This package of materials is a powerful tool offered for free to educators and citizens alike. Drug-Free World also offers all these materials and well as E-courses online2 through their website.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions and live drug-free lives. DFW was founded in 2006 and is one of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaign with materials in over 20 languages. 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.
The unique Drug-Free World booklets1, documentaries, public service announcements and its Drug Education kit can be ordered for free from the DFW website – www.drugfreeworld.org. Local D.C. information is available at www.drugfreeworlddc.org. This made possible by sponsorship by the Church of Scientology and Scientologists all over the world.
To see the program in action watch:
https://www.scientology.tv/series/voices-for-humanity/michael-deleon.html
Susan Taylor
Drug Free World
+1 202-667-6404
email us here
1 https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts-booklets.html
2 https://www.drugfreeworld.org/course/
3 https://www.freedommag.org/magazine/201809-almost-heaven/