The Foundation brought together drug prevention experts speaking on why drug education is so important to the future of our children and presented a call to action to governments of Earth. Hundreds of educators, parents and community leaders from 30 countries attended.

 

Over the years, drug abuse among youth has worsened—in the United States, drug use of eighth graders increased 61 percent between 2016 and 2020, while one out of eight teenagers reported having abused illicit substances in the last year.

To dramatically increase drug education, Foundation for a Drug-Free World published a document containing a call to action to create a world free from drug addiction. This document is based on the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” published by the United Nations on 20 November 1989, whose Article 33 states:

“States Parties shall take all appropriate measures, including legislative, administrative, social and educational measures, to protect children from the illicit use of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances as defined in the relevant international treaties, and to prevent the use of children in the illicit production and trafficking of such substances.”

This call to action calls upon government bodies and educators worldwide to reaffirm their collective commitment to the power of evidence-based prevention initiatives. And it urges individuals and groups to work with Foundation for a Drug-Free World and like-minded organizations of goodwill to develop, adopt and apply effective teacher and student curricula to implement high-quality, factual drug education in our schools and communities as part and parcel of any effective drug prevention strategy.

 

To embody this call to action, speakers, all of them experts in drug education, addressed the vital necessity of prevention and shared their personal experience. Dr. Greg Londot, international education specialist from Phoenix, Arizona, shared his use of The Truth About Drugs Education Package and heart-wrenching stories; Shane Varcoe, executive director of Dalgarno Institute—a growing public interest and community coalition focusing on alcohol and other drug issues and their impact on our society—talked about his alcohol and drug education projects across Australia; and John Redman, executive director of the Community Alliances for a Drug-Free Youth in San Diego—who swears by the Foundation’s Truth About Drugs educational materials—stressed the importance of working together to unite against the drug epidemic.

In concluding the online event, Foundation for a Drug-Free World Executive Director Jessica Hochman said, “We all want to see these changes occur everywhere and we are pledging our unconditional support and assistance to make that happen.”