Churches of Scientology from all over the U.S. join local communities in celebrating National Night Out 2009

Traditionally communities join forces on the first Tuesday of August to combat crime and celebrate National Night Out, an event done for decreasing crime statistics in the U.S. This year the Church of Scientology participated again in cities all over the U.S. to make this initiative into a great success. Volunteers of local churches rolled up their sleeves to help creating drug-free areas by pledging children in to say "No" to drugs and distributing "The Truth About Drugs" booklets.

Since drugs and crime too often go hand in hand, one of the purposes of the 26th edition of National Night Out is to heighten drug prevention awareness. In a 2002 survey on local jail inmates, 68% of them were found to be dependant on drugs or alcohol or abusing them, showing the importance of drug prevention in order to reduce criminality.

In the Rufus King Park, in Queens, New York, children were sworn in as Drug-Free Marshals, promising to lead drug-free lives and leading the way to a Drug-Free USA, while at the same time drug education booklets were distributed to the attendants. At the end of the evening all participants lit their candles for a walk and recommitted themselves to making their community safe and drug-free.

Also in Pasadena, California, at the Villa Park Community Center, children were sworn in as Drug Free Marshals, only this time it were not volunteers who read the pledge to the youth but the police and a council woman!

And this was not the only park in California were there was a place for drug-education. There were more booths in for example Glendale, North Hollywood and Los Angeles, together distributing over a thousand booklets of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. And these booklets start to get well known by for example the police. One cop said, "We use these booklets all the time. They are really great!"

A young girl in Nashville, Tennessee, really got the idea. Picking up some of The Truth About Drugs booklets, she said, "I'm going to start reading these tonight!" A few of her friends came over and one asked, "Why are you getting these? You don't even do drugs." She responded, "That doesn't mean I can't educate myself!"

With each year an estimated $322 billion going around in the drug industry, the United Nations describes the drug crisis as a worse problem than war, famine and human trafficking in terms of abuse and loss of human life. That's why Churches of Scientology have been fighting against drugs for more than 25 years. By giving youth factual information about the dangers of drugs, they are put into a position where they can make an informed decision to say "No" to drugs.

L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Scientology religion, once said "Save the child, you save the nation." Scientologists have taken this to heart and partner with associations, the police and governments to prevent children from falling into the drug trap. With the activities on National Night Out sponsored by the Church of Scientology, thousands of lives were saved from a life full of pain and misery as a consequence of drug use.

For more information on activities against drugs from the Church of Scientology, visit www.scientology.org.