To better conditions in our society—with improvements that you can see, hear and feel on our streets, in our schools and homes—requires the teamwork of community leaders, groups and citizens from all walks of life. This is the objective of the many and varied community programmes advanced by the European Office for Public Affairs and Human Rights.

Effective Drug Prevention

Since 2003, the Office has become the European coordination point for the largest drug salvage campaign on Earth, including pre-vention and education programmes in every nation on the continent. The Church’s grassroots drug education initiative-“Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life”—emerged from a series of publications that enable young people to make informed judgements about drugs, without the scare tactics that youth, more often than not, reject. Indeed, it was the absence of fact-based literature on drugs that persuaded a Swiss Scientologist to write the first of these booklets in the 1990s.

The Church’s investment towards increasing drug awareness among our youth is truly massive: 7.5 million booklets and 45 million informational fliers distributed; 225,000 billboards and posters displayed; 81,000 drug awareness events held and 5,700 news stories with a drug prevention message published. The bulk of this effort is focused on Europe, with the programme sponsored entirely through the donations of Scientologists and other concerned citizens, making it possible to provide the booklets free.

Among the thousands who receive these publications are police officers, youth leaders, educators, churchmen, doctors and nurses, who use them in their own anti-drug initiatives to heighten awareness of drug dangers among youth.

The campaign reaches young people in a unique way—providing facts that allow them to make their own decision, despite peer pressure. Its results inspired the Director of the Boy Scouts of America in Europe, Mr. Vince Cozzone, when he visited the European Office in 2004. Looking for practical aids to help the 10,000 scouts under his charge, Mr. Cozzone found exactly what he needed: the Church’s drug prevention publications. With 1,500 copies in hand, Mr. Cozzone was able to make these valuable materials available to his scouts.