LAPD and Police Activities League (PAL) Explain the Truth about Drug Abuse to Local Families in Hollywood Community Forum
(PRWEB) April 16, 2015 -- For many youngsters growing up in Hollywood, finding a drug dealer is as easy as simply going to school. Hard as it may be to believe, high school and even middle school campuses are where much of the narcotics trafficking goes down these days.
So insisted a Los Angeles Police Department officer during an LAPD/PAL (Police Activities League) Community Forum on April 13 at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, expounding on the fact there isn’t much Tinseltown glamour to be found in this equation.
“Kids are so misinformed that they’re taken advantage of by dealers in the schools,” he maintained.
Hollywood Area Police Commanding Officer Peter Zarcone opened the program by explaining that drugs are a primary cause of crime in Los Angeles, and every family and community group can directly impact the quality of life in the city by utilizing the Truth About Drugs materials supplied by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.
PAL officers showed public service announcements and sections of the award-winning Truth About Drugs—Real Stories, Real People documentary from the Truth About Drugs curriculum. They concentrated on three substances that have a tremendous impact on L.A. youth: Alcohol, marijuana and prescription drugs.
One of the officers emphasized that there are so many clubs in Hollywood where kids take no issue with binge drinking and don’t connect it with tragedies like the recent incident involving a legally drunk, underage, unlicensed young driver heading down a freeway in the wrong direction. She ultimately died in the ensuing collision, as did several classmates.
Noting the intense expression on the faces of parents, children, and teens while the videos played, it was easy to see these films bridging the generation gap. The consensus afterward was that everyone soaked up the supplied information like a sponge.
The Hollywood Police Activities League is a community-based crime prevention program that provides young people with positive alternatives to gangs and drugs.
The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a secular nonprofit corporation formed in 2006 to serve as a primary distributor of educational materials and to develop new strategies to meet the ever-changing challenge that defines drug abuse.
Luis Gonzalez, Church of Scientology International, http://www.scientology.org/, +1 (323) 960-3500, [email protected]
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