Teen Medicine Abuse Persistent, Study Finds

Good news and bad news.

Good news -- drug use of illegal drugs among teens is down.

Bad news -- abuse of medical drugs is way up.

Could this have anything to do with direct-to-consumer TV marketing of pharmaceutica

By Christopher Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 21, 2006; 2:34 PM

Federal officials are concerned that teenagers are abusing prescription medications and over-the-counter cold remedies even as their overall illegal drug use continued a decade-long decline in 2006, according to a government survey released today.

While illegal drug use by teenagers has fallen 23 percent since 2001, their use of prescription narcotics, tranquilizers and other medicines remains at relatively high levels, government investigators said.

What's more, researchers for the first time asked whether teens were using cough or cold medicines to get high and found reason for concern there, too. Such over-the-counter medicines often contain the cough suppressant dextromethorphan, which alters mood and consciousness when consumed in high doses and can cause brain damage or even death, officials said.

About 1 in 14 12th graders, or 7 percent, said they had taken such medicines to get high in the last year. Among eight graders, the figure was 1 in 25, about 4 percent. >> continued

Appalling Statistics

UN condemns sexual exploitation of children in Kenya's coast

Child sex tourism and sexual exploitation of children in Kenya have reached alarming high levels, according to a study conducted by United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) launched in Nairobi Tuesday.

The report indicates that about 15,000 children or 30 percent of 12-18 year old girls in four districts in the Kenyan coast -- Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi and Kwale -- are engaged in casual sex- for-cash.

The study -- The Extent and Effect of Sex Tourism and Sexual Exploitation of Children on the Kenyan Coast -- shows that Kenyan men are the worst culprits in sexual exploitation of children, making up 38 percent of the clients of children.>> continued

Metro Hall Welcomes Human Rights Celebration

Toronto, 10 December 2006: Youth for Human Rights Canada along with the City of Toronto sponsored a special event marking Human Rights Day in Toronto. The afternoon commemoration held at Metro Hall on Sunday had twenty human rights groups involved including the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology. Singer/song writer and YHRI national spokesperson Sarah Melody hosted the afternoon and former Toronto Argonaut Orlando Bowen along with prominent Toronto human rights activist Charles Roach provided keynote addressses. Montreal's The Sound of Reason provided entertainment with their inspirational human rights lyrics.

Human Rights

A bright and successful future for children has everything to do with ensuring their human rights are respected. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights laid out 30 fundamental human rights. Each of these rights has been portrayed in a video. See them at youthforhumanrights.org.

Gender bias 'increases poverty'

Written By:Muthoni Kariuki/Agencies , Posted: Mon, Dec 11, 2006

Caption: Children of women-headed households eat better food, Unicef says

Inequality at home between men and women leads to poorer health for the children and greater poverty for the family, says a new study.

The UN children's agency, Unicef, found that where women are excluded from family decisions, children are more likely to be under-nourished.

There would be 13m fewer malnourished children in South Asia if women had an equal say in the family, Unicef said.

Unicef surveyed family decision-making in 30 countries around the world.

Their chief finding is that equality between men and women is essential to lowering poverty and improving health, especially of children, in developing countries. >> continued

A World that is Safe for Kids

Christmas is coming and one way to look at it is the magnificence of Jesus as a child.

As a Scientologist I believe a child is not a "new being" but rather someone who has just returned to start a new life in a new body.

L. Ron Hubbard has quite a bit to say on the subject, and how to help a child adjust to the new lifetime he/she has just entered.

Imagine, if you can't recall, starting off in this tiny body that can't even sit up or eat by itself, not to mention not being able to express himself or assert his himself.

And yet just a few days before he/she was an adult man or woman with his own things, his knowledge of everything he'd learned that lifetime and all his friends and family. All of that gone!

The book Child Dianetics is a must-read for any parent or teacher. It contains very effective techniques for helping kids get off on the right foot!

Having your cake and eating it too...

Drug Free Marshals Get the Word Out

Colorado Drug-Free Marshals cheering 'Drug-Free Is The Way To Be!' and having fun at the Lights of December Parade.

Provided by: Susan Gaut

Drug Free Marshals Get the Word Out:

"Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs"

• Anti-drug education campaign launched

The Church of Scientology's Drug Free Marshals marched in the Boulder Lights of December Parade, Saturday December 2nd, advising all onlookers to "Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs." The Marshals were greeted with support and cheers as they handed out anti-drug education booklets about a variety of abused drugs.

The Drug Free Marshals program has been a part of the church's drug education and prevention program for over ten years and is geared toward prevention by encouraging children to pledge to live drug-free lives and help others to do the same.

This year, the Church of Scientology launched a drug education program called "Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs" to get the facts about the harmful effects of drugs into the hands of people of all ages. The church has published a new series of booklets which address society's most abused drugs including marijuana, cocaine, crystal meth, LSD, heroin and ecstasy as well as prescription drugs which are illegally sold on the streets such as painkillers and Ritalin (often referred to as "kiddie cocaine"). Each booklet documents the short and long term effects of the drug, street names, personal stories and the specifics about addiction and why the user becomes more and more hooked.

"Drugs destroy millions of lives every year," said Mike Benetatos, local "Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs" Campaign Coordinator. "When a person is armed with the facts about drugs and what drugs do to one's body and mind, they can make an informed decision on drugs. Getting the truth about drugs known is our main mission."

The "Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs" drug education series is available to schools and community groups for their use and includes 10 educational booklets and an activities manual to help groups get started. Volunteers working with this program are also available to deliver drug education lectures and help in any way they can.

To learn more about the "Say Yes To Life, Say No To Drugs" program in Colorado, contact Susan Gaut at (303) 789-7668 or Susan_Gaut@yahoo.com

Fairy Tale Wedding

kdka.com - Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes Marry In Italy

Couldn't resist sharing this photo.

The Scientology Wedding the Whole World is Watching

TomKat's Stag And Hen Dos

The couple shared their hen and stag parties together at a restaurant in central Rome - how very civilised.

Guest of honour was their daughter, Suri.

It was a right family affair, with Tom's adopted daughter Isabella also at the bash, in a dress not too unlike Katie's...

But we know what you're thinking - what celebs were there?

J.Lo was one of them, in a fab gold frock, and Brooke Shields and Jim Carrey also joined them.

Sky Showbiz - TomKat's Stag And Hen Dos

Blogged with Flock

Such a Beautiful Couple

Katie Holmes on Yahoo! News Photos

Blogged with Flock

Trusting Kids

It's sometimes really hard to trust your kids.

But this is a quality that is really important.

Do your best to help them, instill in them a code of ethics, and then trust them.

Here's a great video on the subject.

Boston's Scientology Anti-Drug Initiative.

I found this newswire today. The Scientologists in Boston are doing a great job!

After seeing the 22nd Anniversary Event for the International Association of Scientologists this weekend and hearing what David Miscavige had to say on the subject of taking responsibility for society, I am even more interested than ever in getting these anti-drug activities out in the community.

"Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life" is a community drug education and drug prevention program initiated by the Church of Scientology International. It educates youth and adults about the facts of drugs so they can make informed choices to remain drug-free

Boston, MA (PRWEB via PRWeb) November 2, 2006 -- Feeling that just saying "no" to drugs does little more than just raise a child's curiosity, the Church of Scientology has reached out to the community with easy-to-read pamphlets that contain cutting edge research on how street drugs actually harm the body and society.

"Marijuana users would have you and your children believe that you are merely inhaling a benign herb but that is the furthest thing from the truth," said Paul Bradford, the local program coordinator. "This allegedly safe drug contains over 400 known toxins and cancer-causing chemicals, disrupts nerve cells in the brain harming one's memory, damages the immune system."

Along with a booklet on marijuana entitled, "The Truth about Joints," the Church has made available booklets on LSD, ecstasy, crystal meth, crack, heroin, cocaine, painkillers and "kiddie cocaine". The are available at the Boston Church of Scientology on 448 Beacon Street, the church's volunteer ministry at 1783 Washington Street and online at www.notodrugs-yestolife.org. The booklets are free and for community organizations, government agencies, schools and just plain concerned citizens the Church has produced a Drug Prevention Community Activity Pack. This pack is free and includes a DVD that has the booklets in downloadable format (PDF) for printing and viewing.

"A lot of good-willed citizens and government officials are struggling with the good fight against drugs, and the violence that accompany the drug culture," said Bradford. "I feel that what's really needed is truthful, easy-to-understand data to give children and adults the knowledge they really need to make an informed decisions."

Mr. Bradford challenges all citizens to help stop the drug-related violence and the harmful effects of drugs on our children and society. Contact your " Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life" Coordinator to receive a copy of The Truth about Drugs Activities Manual. Or visit www.notodrugs-yestolife.org and print the booklets and get started.

Scientology takes on "Kiddie Cocaine"

Tampa Bay 10 reported on this story, of Scientologists work to help kids stay off drugs
Clearwater, Florida – Pat Harney is the spokeswoman for the Church of Scientology's World Spiritual Headquarters in Clearwater.

She is showing off a packet of pamphlets that draw all eyes to drugs that are known for their abuse on the streets, like Crystal Meth, LSD, cocaine, and marijuana.

Pat Harney, Church of Scientology Spokeswoman:
"45-percent of kids take marijuana in a one-month period."

Keep Psychs Away from our Kids

This article on the latest fraudulent disorder created by psychiatrists to get the rest of us onto the drugs pharmaceutical companies concoct is just one more piece of evidence showing we should NEVER let these guys near our kids.

Anyone who is as crazy as to devise a disorder out of shopping too much should be labled as irresponsible and prevented from "diagnosing" anyone by themselves.


Another Bogus Psychiatric “Disorder” Foisted On Society

The invention of so- called “binge shopping” is simply another ploy to include yet another bogus disorder in the psychiatric billing “bible”. October 31 2006 10/21/2006 7:42 PM GMT (TransWorldNews) The Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR), a psychiatric watchdog group, says that a recent psychiatric study which claims people who do “binge shopping” aren’t responsible for their actions but are suffering from some sort of nebulous mental disorder is just another psychiatric myth.

The group maintains that the invention of so-called “binge shopping” is simply another ploy to include yet another bogus disorder in the psychiatric billing “bible”, The Diagnostic and Statistical manual of Mental disorders and an attempt to get more unearned billions from insurance companies and medical health plans.

For over a decade CCHR has called on governments to eliminate the DSM as a valid diagnostic manual for insurance reimbursement, medical plan payments or for the basis of any legislation or court testimony. “It is an unreliable, pseudo-scientific document with enormous power to damage lives, while being used to rake in $76 billion a year in international psychiatric drug sales,” Said Brian Beaumont, the president of the Vancouver Chapter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

Scores of new disorders are literally voted in with each new edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostics and Statistical Manual. One of this manual's main uses is billing insurance companies an bilking medical health plans. If the syndrome is in the book, the label can be applied to a person, drugs administered, and the insurance company billed.

Many people have been made to believe that invented psychiatric “disorders” as are actual medical conditions based on chemical imbalances in the blood or brain. However, there is no scientific evidence to support this. Psychiatric studies simply find percentages of people who behave in certain ways. Then labels are given to the behaviors and they're classified as diseases or mental disorders.

Beaumont said “ The current manual contains some 370 made- up “mental disorders”, including such things as Sibling Rivalry Disorder, Mathematics Disorder, Caffeine Related Disorder , Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder the latest term for PMS, Attention Deficit Disorder and Expressive Writing Disorder to name a few. There are enough disorders to label and drug every man woman and child on earth”.

A recent study by Lisa Cosgrove, a psychologist from the University of Massachusetts and Sheldon Krimsky, a Tuft University professor, documents how pharmaceutical companies who manufacture drugs for “mental disorders” funded psychiatrists who defined the disorders for the manual. One hundred percent of the “experts” on DSM-IV panels overseeing so-called “mood disorders” (which includes “depression”) and “schizophrenia/psychotic disorders” were financially involved with drug companies. These are the largest categories of psychiatric drugs in the world: 2004 sales of $20.3 billion for antidepressants and $14.4 billion for antipsychotic drugs alone.

These labels are also used in the legal arena. A psychiatric label can be used to deny you custody of your children, overrule your wishes in business or property dealings or in your will. It can be used to hold you indefinitely in an institution without your consent and without charges or trial, or force you to continue taking drugs regardless of how they're affecting your life or well-being.

The Citizens Commission on Human Rights was established by the Church of Scientology to investigate and expose psychiatric violations of human rights.

If you know anyone, including a child, who has been abused or harmed by a psychiatrist call The Citizens Commission on Human Rights at 1 800 670 2247. Complete confidentiality assured.

Psychiatry

I couldn't agree more with this person's views of psychiatry.

BetsyD posts the full article on her blog.

Childrens' Rights - HRW

Human Rights Watch has compiled the following data on child labor - something all of us need to get involved in changing:


The International Labour Organization (ILO) has estimated that 250 million children between the ages of five and fourteen work in developing countries—at least 120 million on a full time basis. Sixty-one percent of these are in Asia, 32 percent in Africa, and 7 percent in Latin America. Most working children in rural areas are found in agriculture; many children work as domestics; urban children work in trade and services, with fewer in manufacturing and construction.

Child labor ranges from four-year-olds tied to rug looms to keep them from running away, to seventeen-year-olds helping out on the family farm. In some cases, a child's work can be helpful to him or her and to the family; working and earning can be a positive experience in a child's growing up. This depends largely on the age of the child, the conditions in which the child works, and whether work prevents the child from going to school.

The Children's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch has focused its efforts on the worst forms of child labor, those prohibited by the ILO’s Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention. Children who work long hours, often in dangerous and unhealthy conditions, are exposed to lasting physical and psychological harm. Working at rug looms, for example, has left children disabled with eye damage, lung disease, stunted growth, and a susceptibility to arthritis as they grow older. Children making silk thread in India dip their hands into boiling water that burns and blisters them, breath smoke and fumes from machinery, handle dead worms that cause infections, and guide twisting threads that cut their fingers. Children harvesting sugar cane in El Salvador use machetes to cut cane for up to nine hours a day in the hot sun; injuries to their hands and legs are common and medical care is often not available.

Denied an education and a normal childhood, some children are confined and beaten, reduced to slavery. Some are denied freedom of movement—the right to leave the workplace and go home to their families. Some are abducted and forced to work. The human rights abuses in these practices are clear and acute. We have found similar problems in Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the United States: children who work for too many hours and too many days, for too little, or sometimes no pay, subject often to physical abuse, exposed to dangerous pesticides, and made to work with too dangerous tools. Our objectives in tackling these aspects of the complex and troubling child labor issue include drawing attention to the plight of child workers, helping to end these appalling practices, and contributing to the debate on the rights dimension of the larger issue of children and work. >>

Scientology Handbook

There's a section of the Scientology Handbook about children.

For any parent who would like a hand with their kids I recommend reading this. Very helpful.

Stand Up Against Poverty

17 October 2006
23 million people take a stand against poverty
More than 23 million people across the globe have set a new Guinness World Record for the largest number of people to literally “Stand Up” against poverty. And the numbers are still coming in. People stood together: cricket fans in India; school children in Gaza and the West Bank; crowds at a concert in a slum in Zimbabwe and at Times Square in New York all joined for the world record attempt on 15-16 October. The worldwide public action was co-ordinated by the Global Call to Action against Poverty and the UN Millennium Campaign.

Some interesting facts on marijuana, from the Scientology drug information web site:

Sixty percent of teenagers in drug treatment programs are there because of marijuana. According to a National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, kids who frequently use marijuana are almost four times more likely to act violently or damage property. They are five times more likely to steal than those who do not use the drug.

Marijuana is often more potent today than it used to be. Growing techniques and selective use of seeds have produced a more powerful drug. Correspondingly, there has been a sharp increase in the number of marijuana-related emergency room visits by young pot smokers.

Because a tolerance builds up, marijuana can lead users to consume stronger drugs to achieve the same high. When the effects start to wear off, the person may turn to more potent drugs to rid himself of the unwanted conditions that prompted him to take marijuana in the first place.
Marijuana itself does not lead the person to the other drugs: people take drugs to get rid of unwanted situations or feelings. The drug (marijuana) masks the problem for a time (while the user is high). When the“high fades, the problem, unwanted condition or situation returns more intensely than before. The user may then turn to stronger drugs since marijuana no longer “works.” >>

Scientology churches and missions have been active in helping people with drug problems since the mid-1960's and there have been Scientology anti-drug programs for the past 20 years.

I'm personally committed to helping kids steer clear of drugs.

Marriage and Children - a Human Right

Here's one of my favorite human rights videos - they're public service announcements that the Church of Scientology International created for Youth for Human Rights, to help them with their human rights education campaign.

This one is on the right to marriage and children. I didn't have any idea that this was considered a human right until I saw the videos!

You can watch it right here!

Youth for Human Rights

Youth for Human Rights gives teens and children a voice in their own future.

Here's a video that tells the story:

Childrens' Rights

I found a series of videos on human rights that are really beautiful.

I thought I'd share them here.

My favorite is the first one: We're all born free and equal

Drugging Children

I'm sure I've said this many times before, but I think it is so criminal that we have allowed psychiatry and the pharmaceutical industry to hoodwink us, as a society, into believing that bogus disorders exist for which we must drug our children.

Kids have no choice in the matter. What we decide is "for their good," is what goes.

And most parents I've talked to who have their kids on Ritalin think it IS for the kids good.

Its' NOT.

Visit CCHR.org for the very brutal, cold, hard facts.

Once you've gotten the truth, if you need any help to get your kids OFF those drugs, call their hotline at 1-800-869-2247. They will refer you to healthcare professionals who specialize in getting kids off these dangerous drugs, and resolving what is really wrong with them in the first place.

Youth President of Youth for Human Rights

I just found a web site of Claire Kevitt who is the 16-year-old Youth President of Youth for Human Rights International.

She's been doing this work for two years, since she was 14 years old.

She has such poise and conviction. A real leader.

Here she is, a photo from a couple of years ago, I believe, speaking with the President of India!

An Amazing Child

There's a story on the Scientology News site that just rocked me.

It's about a 9-year-old girl who insisted on learning how to audit Dianetics, and then used it to help her father when he was in shock.

You have to look at this little girl. Is she not amazing?

She lives in Nigeria, and her dad in the director of the Scientology Mission of Lagos.

Mother's little helper?

Oslo teens who drank the most sugary soft drinks also had more mental health problems such as hyperactivity and distress, Norwegian researchers reported on Thursday.

Their study of more than 5,000 Norwegian 15- and 16-year-olds showed a clear and direct association between soft drink intake and hyperactivity, and a more complex link with other mental and behavioral disorders.

From Prozac Causes Depression: Try Limiting Sugar Before Using Prozac

Was it the drugs?

The story of the Amish children murdered by a psychopath is devastating.

It reminds me of this posting in one of my favorite blogs: noprozak.blospot.com

I wish I weren't so sure that there were psychiatric drugs behind these murders. Because with the number of prescriptions being written and consumed every day it just points to that many more time bombs walking among us, waiting to walk into the next class room...

Drug Addiction

As bad as drug addiction is for the addict, it is horrible for their families.

Addicts will often do anything to support their habbits.

One common story you hear from addicts families is how the son or daughter will come for Christmas or for a visit and after they leave they can't find some piece of jewelry or an expensive piece of equipment.

The drug rules their lives.

Here is a story with a happy ending, of a mother who got help from the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour in Perm, Russia.

Scientology Volunteer Ministers Restoring a Hope and Salvaging a Family

The day she learned her son André was addicted to drugs was the worst day in Ludmila’s life. And eight years later, she had all but given up on ever being able to help him.

This was her state of mind when she walked into the big yellow tent of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers Trans-Siberian Goodwill Tour in Perm, Russia. And the staff of the Tour had exactly what she needed — effective technology to really help her son. >> continued

The Trap of Drugs

Drugs are promoted to our kids at a very young age.

On TV and in films it is shown as the cool thing to do.

Kids are also told that it is really not dangerous and you can always stop if you want to. These are lies that destroy lives.

It is important for all of us to do whatever we can to provide them with the truth about drugs.

The son of a friend of mine is a case in point.

He as a very bright child and quite a good artist. A sculptor.

Shy and quiet, but he seemed quite happy in what he was doing.

He started smoking marijuana and hashish when he was still an adolescent.

By the time he was 16 he was completely withdrawn and had isolated himself from the rest of his family. He and his girlfriend lived together in a tiny room in a low income area.

He injured himself really badly one night when he was sculpting while stoned, severing most of tendons in the wrist area. Fortunately it was his left hand that was damaged and he was right handed.

His girlfriend, who was a very lovely and friendly girl, whose personality seemed to balance his serious nature, became quite desponent herself and attempted suicide a couple of times. And I wish I could give you good news about them, but the two of them just disappeared several years ago.

They packed up one night, without letting their families know, and took off for Colorado.

Their parents have been unable to find them.

Not every kid who takes drugs disappears off the face of the Earth, but so many of them do come to harm, and if they knew what these drugs do before they started at least they would have the freedom to chose what they wanted to do. With only the pro-drug PR they don't have that choice.

The Church of Scientology International has just published an excellent set of anti-drug booklets anyone is welcome to use.

For information visit http://www.notodrugs-yestolife.org/

Scientology Handbook

The Scientology Handbook has a great chapter on children.

It is simple and so practical. Anyone who wants his/her children to do better in life, and wants to get on better with them should read this chapter. And use it!

Volunteer Ministers Saving Marriages

Children suffer the worst when marriages fall apart. But they also suffer terribly from marriages that are filled with conflict and upset but are held together "for the sake of the kids."

The only really humane thing is to really salvage the marriage, and that takes effective technology.

The Scientology Handbook contains exactly such technology. You can read about it on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site.

Youth for Human Rights

Very exciting news about the Youth for Human Rights World Summit. It was held at the United Nations. Imaging 120 youth delegates from all over the world, coming to New York, meeting with UN and embassy officials, and meeting young people like themselves, equally empassioned about human rights.

An experience of a lifetime, and one destined to make a huge difference on this planet.

The summit was co-sponsored by the Church of Scientology International.

The new Scientology Press Office has a great story on this.

Child trafficking gangs to be targetted

The Stop Child Abuse web site has a very good article on the rise of child trafficking and UK efforts to bring it under control.

The Consitutional Affairs Minister Lord Falconer claimed today that the Government intends to bring forward legislation which will target gangs involved in UK child trafficking.

The increasing exploitation of young people from around the world will be the subject of a plan which is being drawn up by the Home Office and is due to be announced shortly.

Lord Falconer was speaking at a conference in Belfast today which is discussing steps to protect the welfare of children.

The minister added that the development of the internet and the increasing mobility of people made it easier to smuggle young people into the country.

Give them a little space

I think the best thing you can do for a kid is to let him or her have some self-determinism.

It really isn't the end of world if the kid doesn't like liver (hell. I don't like liver either). To enforce that a child eat what you serve him/her is to rob him of his self determinism over his body.

On the other hand if a child is sick because of not eating the proper nutrients, or needs medicine or a transfusion etc. to not enforce that he/she get what he needs because "he is upset about it" is crazy as it will harm the child.

This requires judgment, but I always try to let people have as much freedom as they can have within the bounds of safety.

Tools to help kids

There is a very practical book that I found helpful when my kids needed help. Kids can be a challenge when they get upset for what seems to be no reason, or even when there is a real reason.

There are a number of different things that can be done and I found out about them in the Scientology Handbook. It is very easy to read and following the actions laid out in that book made both my life and my kids much calmer.

Children in India

I saw this article about what children go through in India - there is work to do to help set this right.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3766808a12,00.html

Drug-Free Ambassadors of Australia

The Drug-Free Ambassadors in Australia.

How to be a Successful Parent

Having patience with children isn't always easy. There are many trials and tribulations one has to go through.
I know for me it was a challenge on many occasions, however, my children are grown now and are fabulous people who never had to turn to drugs and are very happy and stable.

I put it down to the techniques I used as a Scientologist. L. Ron Hubbard was very understanding of what was going on with children (he had four of his own so spoke from experience as well as observation).

If you take a look at this page - it tells you about a simple course - especially for parents.

How to be a Successful Parent

Teen Screen

I am adamantly opposed to teen screening. CCHR has put a great deal of information together on this practice and why it is so destructive. It's absolutely NOT a matter of finding something wrong with kids and fixing it. It is manufacturing something as "wrong" when there's nothing wrong and stigmatizing kids for the rest of their lives, not to mention butting them on very powerful narcotics to "cure" something that isn't wrong with them.

Drug-Free Marshals of Los Angeles

Here are some brand new Drug-Free Marshals who celebrated National Night Out with a pledge ot stay off drugs.

Children Promoting Human Rights

I mentioned on an earlier blog entry that there had been an event on the Freewinds ship and that a anti-drug program had been announced. Well, at that very same event hosted by Mr. David Miscavige there were 30 public service announcements released to the public. They are already airing and being widely distributed by Scientologists internationally. Each PSA is a graphic depiction of each of the 30 points of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. They definitely communicate - children cannot be ignored and their message is very meaningful.

Drug Free in LA

I love this photo from the Scientology Anti Drug site
Proclaiming "Drug-Free is the Way to Be," two Drug-Free Marshals show the anti-drug banner they helped create at Mel's Health Fair and Block Party. The Los Angeles Drug-Free Marshals are sponsored by Church of Scientology of Los Angeles. For more information contact the Community Affairs Office at the Church of Scientology of Los Angeles at 323-953-3200.

National Night Out

Today (or tonight more correctly) is the 23th National Night Out. Cities and towns all over the country will be participating, showing their solidarity on the issue of helping kids choose a drug-free lifestyle.

The No to Drugs Yes to Life web site and Scientology News Room have lots of stories and ideas about drug prevention and the work Scientologists are doing to combat drug abuse.

KIDS ARE JUST AMAZING - AREN'T THEY

You know the easiest people in the world to show the dangers of drugs to is kids. They listen and learn, and once they understand they want to help other people to understand.

This is just what happens with the Drug-Free Marshals and the Drug-Free Ambassadors. They are just young people who want to make sure that their friends, family and community know what drugs can do and how harmful they are to the body and then they go and tell others about it.

This program sponsored by the Church of Scientology International was featured in an event recently held in the Caribbean on board the Freewinds. The evening gave incredible details of what children around the world are accomplishing on this front. Hosted by Mr. David Misavige, the event showed visuals and gave many examples of the good work the "Drug-Free" kids are doing.

San Diego Scientologists Taking a Stand Against Drugs

Last Thursday I wrote about the work of the anti-drug work of the Church of Scientology San Diego. Later I saw PR Web carried a press release about their work which quotes David Meyer, the coordinator of the “Say No to Drugs, Say Yes to Life” campaign in San Diego. “Overcoming this scourge requires real drug education — actual direction that makes it clear to people everywhere exactly what drugs do to their bodies and minds. Effective drug education at all levels of society can and will bring about drug abuse prevention.”

There is a lot of good information about the Scientology anti-drug campaign on the Scientology Effective Solutions web site

Getting Kids Involved

The Church of Scientology of San Diego is very creative in the way they get kids involved in helping other kids decide not to take drugs. That's the focus of the Scientology Anti-drug campaign, and from my experience, that's the best way to get home to young people.

Protecting our Kids from Drugs

Today is the anniversary of the UN Day Against Drugs.

Scientology churches have terrific booklets that are simple to read but pull no punches on the subject of the effects of drugs.

The Scientology anti-drug site is also an excellent resource for information. If you have a child you think may be experimenting with, using or considering taking drugs my advice is make it really safe for them to talk to you, and then send them to this site to read about what they are getting themselves into.

Your acting when you just suspect there may be something wrong can save so much heartache later. And if you treat your child with respect and don't try to make him wrong for telling you what he's done, you can also make huge strides toward restoring your relationship (as it's my experience that when kids are secretly taking drugs it wrecks a parent/child relationship and the only solution is to coax them into confiding in you what they have gotten themselves into).

Hope that helps.

International Day against Drug Abuse

I was just reading one of my favorite blogs and found out that the 26th of June is the UN International Day against Drug Abuse.

I believe it is important for all of us to work to combat drugs. That's why I support the Scientology anti-drug campaign.

Scientology churches do great work to let kids know the truth about drugs and do it in a way that is fun for the kids. The program is called the Drug Free Marshals (Drug-Free Ambassadors in Australia and New Zealand). Kids get to get to be sworn in as Marshals and sign a pledge to stay of drugs and help their friends do so too.

They bring this program to fairs and other public gatherings.

The kids have fun swearing in adults too. They've sworn in policement and mayors and other officials.

It's a great way for everyone to get to the kids with a positive message. By making a committment they have to at least think twice when other kids promote drugs to them. And that might just be enough to get them to say no.

Helping Children Learn the Truth About Drugs

I find it very disturbing to read about the effects of meth on children.

The Pew Commission on Children in Foster Care released this today:

"-- Unlike other drugs, women are more likely to use meth. They are also more likely to be single parents who live alone with their children. Additionally, meth abuse has increased substantially among pregnant women -- between 1995 and 2003, there has been an 86 percent increase in the number of pregnant women seeking treatment for meth addiction.

"-- Between 2000 and October 15, 2005, meth lab seizures by local or federal law enforcement affected approximately 15,192 children, including at least 3,800 children exposed to toxic chemicals, 96 lab-related injuries, and 8 deaths."

One of the dangers of meth is that it is not unusual for a person to become addicted just by trying the drug once.

The Church of Scientology International has a drug education web site that provides information about meth and many other drugs. Scientology churches are very active on drug information campaigs to reach children before they experiment with drugs.

Helping the Children of Calcutta

The work being done by the Mohammed Khalil Ullah in the slums of Calcutta is really inspiring. There is a story on this on the Scientology Volunteer Ministers web site.

Here's an excerpt from the story:

"For several years Mr. Ullah has been running projects in the slums, including providing schooling and health care for the children, vocational training for women so they can learn the skills they need to get jobs, and rescuing children who have been the victims of sexual trafficking, providing them a place to live, food and education.

"Learning about Mr. Hubbard's technology when he attended a seminar presented by the Scientology Volunteer Goodwill Tour at the Calcutta Book Fair in January, Mr. Ullah thought Mr. Hubbard's methods could help him accomplish his mission.

"He trained on the Disaster Response Course and several other Volunteer Ministers courses, provided by the Goodwill Tour. Inspired by what he learned he decided to implement this on a broad scale; he opened a school in the Calcutta slums, where he incorporated the techniques of study technology into the curriculum and plans to open dozens more."

It's wonderful to hear how he is putting the technology from the Scientology Handbook to use to solve such an important problem.

Youth for Human Rights

Youth for Human Rights is a really good program to educate youth on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights so they can become advocates for peace. The Universal Declaration was born out of the ashes of the 2nd World War, and was a great humanitarian effort to end war.

But most people have never even heard of the articles that comprise this Declaration.

Youth for Human Rights is bringing the Universal Declaration to live with beautifully crafter public service announcements - one to illustrate each arcticle.

It's a brilliant idea and they have executed it so well.

Some of the PSAs are online at their web site - youthforhumanrights.org.

Scientology churches and Scientologists are very active in this campaign and the Human Rights Department of the Church of Scientology International and Golden Era Productions (a branch of the Church) are working in close coordination with Youth for Human Rights to make this occur.

Freedom Magazine Writes About Protecting Children

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A recent edition, Freedom Magazine has an article on the Child Protective Services in the US.

To quote the press release on the Scientology.org web site:

Dominated by the profit-driven psychiatric industry, human rights abuses in the child welfare system are rife, including forcible, unwarranted family separations and brutal treatment of children coerced onto mind-altering drugs.

LOS ANGELES — In a heart-rending examination of two families torn apart by the Child Protective Services system, Freedom Magazine, the investigative journal of the Church of Scientology International, exposes in a just-released issue the profiteering motives of the psychiatric industry and the disastrous consequences for children and families across the United States.

As expressed by Massachusetts attorney Gregory Hession, one of numerous authorities interviewed by Freedom, “We need to raise the threshold for taking children from their families to begin with, so fewer children get into the system. Then they won’t be drugged and ruined and crushed and killed and raped and murdered and everything else that happens to them.”

“The Child Protection Racket” describes how 12-year-old Rusty Roska was dragged from his home by four employees of Utah’s Division of Child and Family Services after his mother was given a false psychiatric diagnosis, and how, in Massachusetts, Audrey Serrano’s 9-year-old daughter, Jessica, was taken away after Audrey questioned whether psychiatrists should continue administering high doses of deadly psychiatric drugs to Jessica.>>

Other interesting articles from Freedom Magazine:

Clearwater's Volunteer Ministers - Providing a Helping Hand
Mr. David Miscavige Pays Tribute to L. Ron Hubbard

This photo of a Scientology Volunteer Minister with a child in Kolkata, India typifies to me what the Scientology Volunteer Minister movement is all about. It's about helping people.

When someone asks me "What is Scientology?" my first inclination is to show them. There's enough talk these days. But with the Volunteer Ministers program there is real help.

Scientology Volunteer Minister - Caring for Kids

This is a friend of mine who is a very active Scientology Volunteer Minister. She helps the children of the area whereever she goes.

She has done volunteer work in South East Asia, the Phillipines, Brazil and many other areas, caring for the kids that need help, she truly is a caring minister.

Scientology Celebrities Featured on ABC.com

Leah Remini is one of the most outspoken Scientology artists. She is anything but backed off!

A member of the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International, she is an advocate for children's rights through her support of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.



Here's a Scientology site I just noticed and thought I'd pass along to anyone who visits by blog.

It's the Church of Scientology of San Francisco (one of my favorite cities!.

They have a very beautiful new church, right downtown. The Grand Opening of this church featured a speech by Mr. David Miscavige, Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center, who gave a very interesting overview of the importance of San Francisco in the history of the Scientology religion.

More on Scientology Silent Birth

There's lots of talk about silent birth and some pretty odd ideas about it.

http://churchofscientology.blogspot.com/
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Great Story today in the Orange Country Register about Scientologists and their adherence to basic Dianetics principles regarding birth.

There's been lots of hype on the subject. It's good to see some factual stories surfacing now.

Of course the BEST way to understand "silent birth" is to read Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health.

Creating a Better Future for our Children

Scientology founder, L. Ron Hubbard, once wrote: "A culture is only as great as its dreams and its dreams are dreamed by artists."


It is to that end that the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre was first formed -- to provide the artist with the help he or she needs to create a better future.