Obama ‘Policy Shift’ on Drug Education a Sensible Change

The Church of Scientology has been a strong community drug education activist for decades mainly because research by Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard in the 1960s showed that drugs abuse not only has a social and personal health liability, it also hinders spiritual enlightenment.   But even before that information came into my frame of reference, I had witnessed in my own years as an NFL tight end in the 1970s with the Steelers and Patriots many men of fantastic potential ruin their careers and personal relationships and die through drug abuse.

President Obama’s new revised approach to bring on more drug education is significant and sensible, because a wider look at the havoc that results from ignorance of what drugs are and do, is a real eye opener.  A new drug education documentary from the Foundation for a Drug-Free World which is available on the Internet and is based on interviews of over 200 former addicts, tells the real tale.  In addition to proving the obvious—no one decides to become addicted to drugs—what is more meaningful is that one for one they had no clue where that joint, pill or drink would take them.

Statistics-wise, according to a March 2010 National Drug Intelligence Center report, the economic cost of drug abuse and trafficking is $215 billion annually, which omits the cost of drug-related crime.  Abuse of prescription drugs has exploded (treatment admissions from 1997-2007 for prescription painkillers increased by more than 400 percent) and abuse of illicit drugs is commonplace.

As Drug Czar Gil Kerlikowske remarked yesterday, the Obama Administration’s new emphasis on drug education and treatment “changes the whole discussion about ending the war on drugs and recognizes that we have a responsibility to reduce our own drug use in the country.”

For more information on the Church’s anti-drug initiative, visit the Scientology website.  Rev. Adams can be contacted him at (323) 960-3500 or on email at BobAdams@Scientology.net.