The Foundation for a Drug-Free World Americas Chapter Honors Red Ribbon Week with Series of Events

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World (FDFW) holds a variety of events throughout the year to benefit the community through drug education, prevention and awareness.

According to a WhiteHouse.gov drug control update, from 2009-2010, New York was one of the top ten states for drug-use rates. Approximately 9.82 percent of New York residents reported past-month use of illicit drugs whereas the national average was 8.82 percent.

“This must change,” says Pamela Vilinsky, Regional Coordinator for the Foundation for a Drug-Free World (FDFW) Americas Chapter based in New York, “To prevent even more of an epidemic, we are working twice as hard to spread the truth about drugs.”

During the final week of October, the FDFW presented drug education seminars to several schools, community centers, and to the Boys & Girls Clubs in New Jersey in partnership with the DEA. Not only that, the chapter held several awareness events such as "Meet a Cop" where people were also invited to grab a free copy of the Truth About Drugs booklets.  The Founder of the Americas Chapter of FDFW, Ben Fialkoff, also presented Drug Education Certificates to Law Enforcement Officers as well as held an event with NYPD Explorers Club.

The series of events was to honor Red Ribbon Week, which occurs during the last week of October each year and is a time to educate people and prevent drug abuse. The Red Ribbon Campaign was started when drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985. This began the continuing tradition of displaying Red Ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a Drug-Free America, according to redribbon.org.

“We are always proud to participate in Red Ribbon Week, as part of a unified voice that says ‘we are not going to let drugs continue to ruin lives across the world,’” says Vilinsky.

The FDFW Americas Chapter is part of the worldwide effort to end drug abuse through education, the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. To learn about the work done in New York, New Jersey, Washington DC, and Latin America, visit DrugFreeWorldAmericas.org.

Criminon Tennessee Creating a Safe Community

Just over a year ago, Criminon Tennessee graduated its first class from the Criminal Justice Center (CJC) Correctional Facility in the heart of downtown Nashville. The Director of Criminon Tennessee, Tracy Fesler, was extremely proud to talk about the progress her students make during their time in the program.

“Some of these guys get in trouble because of a momentary upset—one thing sets them off and they make a mistake that puts them on the course for years of self invalidation and degradation,” says Fesler.

The Criminon program is an evidence-based intervention that creates safer communities through its education curricula for offenders.  Criminon means “without crime,” and Criminon Tennessee is a non-profit 501(c)(3) charitable organization. According to criminontn.org, “[Criminon International] is the management body for the network of Criminon chapters and offices in over 20 countries that services over 11,000 offenders weekly.”

Fesler says most offenders begin a life of crime after they lose their own self-respect. “I worked with an inmate who told me the exact moment in her life when she lost her self-respect. She had stolen candy from a shop at a young age, and she was met with a group of adults all coming down hard on her for this—her parents, teachers—all people she looked up to were telling her she wasn’t going to make anything of herself, so she didn’t.”

The fundamental principle that underlies the Criminon approach in methodology is the restoration of the individual’s self-respect and common sense values to avoid relapse into antisocial patterns of behavior.

Fesler says another aspect is that many offenders learn by example. “They learned this lifestyle from the culture that surrounds them. They see being a drug dealer as ‘cool,’ because their role models do that. They are missing so many good opportunities because they can’t even imagine having another lifestyle,” she says.   

The Criminon curricula utilize the principles and methods of author and humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard – who also had personal experience in law enforcement, walking the “beat” as a Special Officer in the Los Angeles Police Department in 1948. Hubbard wrote in detail about the rehabilitation of the criminal, once noting, “[Man] becomes a menace only when he has to compensate with dangerousness for his own loss of prestige.”

Criminon Tennessee works with inmates at every level. Fesler is excited to move the program even further in the coming year. “All that I do is help people restore their respect in themselves and others. This is incredible work, and I’m passionate about helping more and more people,” she says. For more information on Criminon Tennessee, visit criminontn.org. 

United for Human Rights Takes Education to Youth

United for Human Rights is a program which brings human rights to life through audio-visual aids for students anywhere.

Freedom doesn’t have to be a nebulous concept, and thanks to the materials provided by United for Human Rights, it can be a solid reality for all. The United for Human Rights program is designed to raise awareness and respect for human rights by educating the population and simultaneously persuading governments to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

In Tennessee, the campaign is reaching out directly to help students understand their basic rights. “Materials are free of charge to educators,” says Rev. Brian Fesler, who coordinates the program locally. “We want to reach everyone – every man, woman and child deserves to know their basic rights and we are working to achieve this.”

Fesler is encouraging educators, government workers and others to visit the website humanrights.com to get free materials so they can start passing on this information.

The United for Human Rights program includes booklets on What Are Human Rights? and the Story of Human Rights, the Story of Human Rights short film and the 30 public service announcements which illustrate each of the points to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Further, the complete education package contains all of these things plus a complete curriculum that educators can use in classrooms.

The humanrights.com website is an interactive learning center complete with information including all videos and downloadable materials. Lastly, a virtual education program is available as an app downloadable for iPhones and iPads.

“These materials are user friendly and available to anyone,” said Fesler. For more information about United for Human Rights, visit humanrights.com.

Drug-Free South Hosts Leaders to Discuss Community Problems for World Health Day

The Truth About Drugs program provides teachers, law enforcement and community groups with effective drug education materials.

Drug-Free South (DFS) is the Tennessee Chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, and held a meeting with local community leaders on World Health Day to discuss situations in the community and ways to help children.

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World provides the Truth About Drugs booklets, the “They Said, They Lied” public service announcements, and the 100-minute documentary, The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories which all work together to provide students the facts on drugs. DFS helps kids understand the truth about drugs, so they don’t get caught off-guard when a dealer is trying to talk them into doing something they will always regret.

According to the World Health Organization which sponsors World Health Day, “[the day] is celebrated on 7 April every year to mark the anniversary of the founding of WHO [World Health Organization] in 1948. Each year a theme is selected that highlights a priority area of public health. The Day provides an opportunity for individuals in every community to get involved in activities that can lead to better health.”

Drug-Free South is celebrating the day by showcasing its materials for educators, and meeting with leaders in the South Nashville and Edgehill neighborhoods to discuss community problems and ways to address them.  One guest was Cornelius Carroll who co-founded the program Saving Our Youth, and has personal experience visiting schools to help students make good choices, another was a member of the Narcotics Division of the Metro Nashville Police. Together, they came up with a series of events and ideas to help the community now.

“We’re excited about all of the support from the community as we reach out to help these children,” says Rev. Brian Fesler who pastors the Church of Scientology and helps coordinate the local Drug-Free program.

For more information on the Truth About Drugs program or upcoming events, visit drugfreesouth.org.

Church of Scientology Hosts Interreligious Forum in Honor of Friendship Day

Nashville Church of Scientology celebrates International Day of Friendship by hosting a forum dedicated to religious tolerance.

A newly released brochure, Scientology: How We Help—United for Human Rights, Making Human Rights a Global Reality, details human rights work done by the Church of Scientology to assist politicians, governments, community activists, schools and religious groups across the world. The brochure further details how communities are using the United for Human Rights program to educate young and old alike on basic rights to which everyone is entitled.

Nashville Church of Scientology Pastor, Rev. Brian Fesler says, “Education is the first step.  People have to know their rights and know that ‘human rights’ as a topic even exists before they can do anything effective about it.”  

In observance of the United Nations’ Friendship Day, The Church hosted leaders from across Tennessee for a discussion about how to create religious tolerance throughout the state. “Intolerance and discrimination are a problem in Tennessee, and it will take all of us working together to bring about change,” says Rev. Fesler.

Specific instances of religious intolerance have been directed toward the Muslim community in areas such as Murfreesboro and Columbia, Tennessee.  The group that visited the Church for Friendship Day is working on a project to combat bigotry toward that community.

The International Day of Friendship was proclaimed in 2011 by the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities, according to un.org. It is in this spirit that group gathered to discuss ways to create peace and unity.

The Church of Scientology supports United for Human Rights, the world’s largest nongovernmental human rights educational campaign. For more information about United for Human Rights or programs supported by the Church of Scientology, visit www.scientology.org.