SPREADING THE TRUTH ABOUT DRUGS
GLOBAL MESSAGE

In France, drug education booklets have been widely distributed over the past two decades through handouts and drug prevention events, helping raise public awareness.

Organized volunteer actions worldwide have resulted in the distribution of over 170 million drug prevention booklets and tens of thousands of community drug awareness activities.

The impact in preventing drug use is significant. Those who are informed can resist peer pressure and choose for themselves to never start using drugs in the first place.

There is another result: When individuals, especially young people, learn the truth about drugs, they naturally want to share that information with friends and others. Thus, the program and its activities continue to expand from person to person and community to community.

The Truth About Drugs campaign is carried out through a wide variety of actions and events, each proven to popularize and promote drug-free living. To engage and empower as many people as possible, the activities are simple and designed for participants of all ages. Above all, they are effective in bringing the truth about drugs to millions.

Volunteers set up information booths in high-traffic city locations, bringing the facts to the attention of hundreds of thousands of pedestrians through Truth About Drugs booklet distribution, public service announcement (PSA) showings, informal lectures, drug-free pledge signings and performances by musicians, acrobats and live entertainers of every kind.

Local businesses support the campaign, providing drug education booklets to customers and employees and displaying posters in their windows.

Essay and poster contests recognize effective expressions of the drug-free message. Such contests are organized in schools, youth activity clubs and community centers to raise awareness about drugs and increase involvement in activities that popularize drug-free living. The essays and posters, including the winning entries, are exhibited in schools, community centers and churches.

Drug-free youth clubs are yet another effective means of promoting a drug-free lifestyle. They are formed around one simple message: Find out the truth about drugs. Club members distribute Truth About Drugs materials to their friends, classmates and neighbors, encouraging them to sign the drug-free pledge.

Volunteers conduct drug education lectures in schools at all grade levels, using the information in The Truth About Drugs booklets and PSAs.

Young people appear on local public-access television and radio talk shows to promote their drug education activities.

Drug-free concerts promote the drug-free message through music, accompanied by banners, T-shirts and booklet distribution.

Drug-free marathons, bike tours and other sports events have become a tradition in many areas, with organizers inviting the support of athletic and entertainment figures and obtaining sponsorship from small businesses and large corporations. Activities around the world are as diverse as their locales: