Overdose Awareness Week Archives

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Scientology Churches provide tools anyone can use to help end the overdose crisis. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 105,000 lives were lost due to overdose in 2021. On August 26, U.S. President Joe Biden declared August 28 through September 3 to be Overdose Awareness Week, saying "Beating the opioid overdose epidemic is an urgent priority."

What can we do?

There are five simple things anyone can do to take effective action against overdose deaths.

Parents, educators, community leaders and any concerned individual can save lives by taking these simple steps:

* Understand how drugs work and what they do by reading the Truth About Drugs booklets available through the website of Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

* Enroll on free online drug education courses on the Foundation's website. See how easy it is to learn the truth about drugs. Educate yourself and use this information to feel confident about speaking to others on this vital subject.

* Make the decision to use what you've learned to help your family, friends and community as a drug prevention volunteer. And order your drug prevention materials. They will be shipped to you free of charge.

* Contact your nearest Church of Scientology or the Foundation for a Drug-Free World to arrange any training you need as a drug education presenter. And START.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, "Prevention strategies based on scientific evidence working with families, schools, and communities can ensure that children and youth, especially the most marginalized and poor, grow and stay healthy and safe into adulthood and old age. For every dollar spent on prevention, at least ten can be saved in future health, social and crime costs."

Using the resources from Foundation for a Drug-Free World, volunteers in countries across the globe are reaching their communities with this vital information. Many of them are featured on the Scientology Network in the original series Voices for Humanity. Among them:

* On the streets of Los Angeles, former addict David Sanchez uses Foundation for a Drug-Free World materials to give kids the street smarts they need to make the right choice about living drug-free. "I knew that I had to find a way to educate people," he says. "Knowing about something that could hurt you is half the battle of being able to defeat it."

* In Malaysia, Khai Aziz, lead singer of the hard-core straight-edge punk band Second Combat, uses his music to spread the message to youth that there's nothing cool about using drugs. Straight edge is hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using drugs. And with drug dealers targeting younger and younger children, Aziz is fighting back, using the Foundation's Truth About Drugs initiative to reach kids in school.

* Lithuanian-born Ingrida Lingyte's life was changed forever when her mother was killed and her sister paralyzed in an accident caused by a drunk driver. Years later, on a visit to Colombia, she fell in love with the country and made it her home. To combat Colombia's drug culture and the suffering it causes, Lingyte and her team have reached one-fifth of the country's population with the Truth About Drugs. And they're still going strong.

Noting the role substance abuse plays in the disintegration of the social fabric, Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "Research has demonstrated that the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs."

Thousands of people are using these tools in their communities to make a difference. Join them.

Voices for Humanity is a Scientology Network original series of short documentaries introducing changemakers from all faiths, cultures and nations as they extend help to their communities through Scientology-sponsored humanitarian programs.

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. Broadcast from Scientology Media Productions, the Church's global media center in Los Angeles, the Scientology Network is available on DIRECTV Channel 320 and can be streamed at Scientology.tv, on mobile apps and via the Roku, Amazon Fire and Apple TV platforms.

LEARN MORE:

https://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/

https://www.scientology.tv/series/voices-for-humanity/

https://www.scientology.tv/documentaries/the-truth-about-drugs.html

https://www.drugfreeworld.org/

MULTIMEDIA:

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/YAHVESjVkWs

Scientology Churches provide tools anyone can use to help end the overdose crisis. According to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 105,000 lives were lost due to overdose in 2021. There are five simple things anyone can do to take effective action against overdose deaths.

Related link: https://www.scientology.org/

LOS ANGELES, Calif. /ScoopCloud/ -- Volunteers from Scientology Churches, Missions and groups fight drug overdose during Overdose Awareness Week and throughout the year with the truth - The Truth About Drugs initiative of Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

The spike in drug overdose deaths makes it more urgent than ever to warn young people about the dangers of drugs. This is a danger that has escalated over recent years, with drug dealers secretly adding fentanyl and other highly dangerous additives to the drugs they sell.

On Friday, U.S. President Joe Biden issued a proclamation declaring August 28 through September 3 as Overdose Awareness Week. "Beating the opioid overdose epidemic is an urgent priority," he said. And he urged one and all to strengthen collective efforts to prevent overdose deaths.

Foundation for a Drug-Free World stands ready to help anyone join the movement to protect youth from the dangers of drugs. Thanks to the support of the Church of Scientology and Scientologists, the Foundation, one of the world's largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaigns, makes its youth-friendly booklets and videos available free of charge.

Foundation for a Drug-Free Word also features free online drug education courses that dispel pro-drug propaganda and help youth understand what drugs are and what they do.

Scientology Churches hold community open house events and offer free training and materials to anyone wishing to take part in this movement to help youth.

The Scientology Network shows humanitarians in action using The Truth About Drugs to help kids avoid the tragedy of drug abuse. Episodes of the original series Voices for Humanity document their work and the effectiveness of the program:

* David Sanchez was only 9 when a neighbor offered him marijuana and started him on a lifelong struggle with drug addiction. By the time he turned 15, his life was consumed by alcohol and methamphetamine, leading to a stint in juvenile jail. Graduating to heroin and time in multiple penitentiaries, the turning point came in 2012 when he finally conquered his addiction. In 2014, Sanchez cofounded Beacon of Hope, the largest adult sober living home in Los Angeles. Remembering how his nightmare began with that first hit, he founded Strike Out Against Drugs to educate his community on the truth about drugs using Foundation for a Drug-Free World materials. To date, David Sanchez has reached around 1.5 million people with an anti-drug message and changed the lives of countless kids.

* As a teenager, Darren Tessitore watched as drugs claimed the lives of many of his friends. Now the father of three dedicates himself to educating as many kids as possible on the dangers of drugs and delivers his anti-drug message to millions. Convinced that his close friends who died drug-related deaths might be alive today if they had been fully aware of the dangers drugs posed, Tessitore dedicated himself to teaching kids about the dangers of drugs as a preventative measure. He discovered Foundation for a Drug-Free World's Truth About Drugs program and advocated its use-first in high school driver's education programs. Schools across the country heard of his success and began clamoring for the materials and information he presented. Then he partnered with police-affiliated school resource officers. Through seminars, presentations and the educational materials he has distributed, Tessitore has reached an estimated 3.1 million students with the truth about drugs.

* Michael DeLeon's world came to a crashing halt when he suddenly found himself addicted to drugs and in prison. Once released, he founded the nonprofit Steered Straight and dedicated himself to helping kids by sharing his own story and educating them on the dangers of drugs. In his Voices for Humanity episode, DeLeon describes how he was searching for a way to get through to kids. He googled "drugs are a lie" and a Drug-Free World video popped up. "Man, I could almost cry," he says, and he realized "this is it!" This was exactly what he needed. The #1 booked drug prevention lecturer in U.S. schools, he uses the Drug-Free World materials in all his presentations.

Drug prevention has long been recognized as a vital service to communities, but never more than now, in light of drug overdose trends.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime states: "Prevention strategies based on scientific evidence working with families, schools, and communities can ensure that children and youth, especially the most marginalized and poor, grow and stay healthy and safe into adulthood and old age. For every dollar spent on prevention, at least ten can be saved in future health, social and crime costs." And the Office urges communities to "support drug abuse prevention based on scientific evidence as an investment in the wellbeing of children, adolescents, youth, families and communities."

The Church of Scientology and Scientologists reach out to their communities during Overdose Awareness Week and throughout the year with the Foundation's The Truth About Drugs series of fourteen illustrated drug information booklets containing facts about the most commonly abused drugs.

LEARN MORE:

https://www.scientologynews.org/press-releases/

https://www.scientology.tv/series/voices-for-humanity/

https://www.drugfreeworld.org

MULTIMEDIA:

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/SFaNBezJPc8

Volunteers from Scientology Churches, Missions and groups fight drug overdose during Overdose Awareness Week and throughout the year with the truth - The Truth About Drugs initiative of Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

Related link: https://www.scientology.org/

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