| INTERNATIONAL | 19 OCTOBER 2007 |

Foundation Launches Worldwide Assault On Drugs

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World has launched a massive drug information campaign with free educational materials sent to some 80,000 educators, law enforcement, health professionals, and private and public substance abuse prevention and treatment centers and agencies in the US, Canada, Mexico and a dozen European countries. As part of the campaign, billboards are also going up in major cities in the US, including Times Square in New York City, as well as in several European cities.
“Our objective is to equip those most in need of effective tools and to head off drug experimentation and abuse before it sets in and destroys lives,” said Pascal Cottier, a director of the Foundation. “When youth are empowered with knowledge of what drugs are and what drugs do, they will make informed, intelligent decisions about them.”

The US Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates the annual cost of drug abuse in America at $180.9 billion. A newly released Back to School survey conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse found that 11 million American high-school students (80%) and five million middle-school students (44%) have personally witnessed illegal drug use, dealing, possession, or students drunk or high at school.

Studies also suggest that if a young person reaches the age of twenty-one without using illicit drugs, they are unlikely ever to do so.

“Drug abuse can be avoided by reaching youth early enough with what they need to know, so they will not be mislead or fooled into doing drugs,” said Cottier.

 

To find out more, order a FREE Truth About Drugs Information Kit