To an African Country in Difficulty, Narconon Brings the Light of Drug Prevention
(PRWEB) July 01, 2014 -- Liberia, on the West Coast of Africa, has been through serious struggles in the last few decades. After two civil wars, Liberia has suffered losses in infrastructure that left it vulnerable to international crime. Drug traffickers exploited Liberia’s weaknesses to acquire personnel and resources to move their Afghan heroin through to the US and South American cocaine into Europe. Seeing that his neighboring country had so few resources to help its population, Joseph Appiah of Narconon Ghana decided to bring in his drug prevention organization.
On this year's United Nations Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, Mr. Appiah presented a public awareness drug-fighting event jointly with the Liberian Drug Enforcement Administration. Also speaking at the event were representatives from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the U.S. Embassy.
Each representative pledged his or her support in Liberia’s fight against drug abuse, a problem requiring coordinated effort to overcome. Since the end of the civil wars, many former soldiers have struggled with addiction to the same drugs they were given by their unit commanders to forcibly, chemically stimulate more aggression. A growing number of younger Liberians have also begin to use drugs, especially locally grown marijuana or synthetics. There are few opportunities for young people in Liberia. As elsewhere in the world, no productive work contributes to making young people susceptible to drug dealers or criminals.
Many members of the Liberian police force joined the anti-drug parade through the streets of Monrovia as well as at a Narconon drug education presentation at S.W. Tubman Senior High School. As the parade made its way through the Monrovia streets, a large banner invited spectators to join them at the high school. "Come one, come all and join the fight against drugs, substance abuse and illicit trafficking," the banner read.
“Like his Narconon drug education colleagues in South Africa, Nigeria, and Uganda, Joseph Appiah is spreading the Narconon positive message that being drug-free is a healthier, safer and more ethical way to live," said Clark Carr, president of Narconon International. "We are very proud of Joe’s determination to make a difference in Western Africa and highly commend him for his successes garnering the attention of so many people to back up drug education as a primary tool to reduce drug abuse in Liberia."
For the last decade, Mr. Appiah has been delivering Narconon drug prevention lessons to schoolchildren throughout Ghana. “But I always had the intention to expand our help to Liberian youth,” Appiah said. “It was not hard at all to recruit willing Liberians to train up in Narconon techniques to spread understandable, drug-free messages.” Mr. Appiah used this United Nations event to let people know about the founding of this new drug prevention group, Narconon Liberia, and to introduce its staff.
"We wish our colleague Mr. Appiah every success in the establishment and expansion of his new organization and look forward to hearing future news of more educational and public awareness events," added Mr. Carr.
Internationally, there are more than 100 Narconon centers offering either residential drug rehabilitation or drug prevention services to students, adults, businesses, and government agencies. Founded in 1966 and based on the work and research of American philosopher, L. Ron Hubbard, the Narconon program has helped tens of thousands of people to recover from addiction and reached millions of individuals with drug education. For more information, call 1-800-775-8750 or visit http://www.narconon.org.
Clark Carr, Narconon International, http://www.narconon.org, +1 323-962-2404, [email protected]
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