Narconon Centers Worldwide Rescue Youth who Fall Prey and Offer Real Freedom
Los Angeles, CA – November 29, 10 - “Narconon® Centers have for generations been rescuing youth who find themselves hooked on drugs as a result of recreational drug use,” says Bobby Wiggins, the Director of Drug Prevention at Narconon International. The parties are often small house gatherings, but not always, and the bigger the venue, the more involvement of international drug traffickers.
Because partying and drugs have become inseparable, major party traditions, such as the annual Schoolies event in Australia, are seen as a key recruitment venue for drug traffickers.
“These youth traditions celebrate freedom, but traffickers use the events as opportunities to open the door wide to the slavery of substance abuse. They use them as golden opportunities to grab their share of a potential market,” says Wiggins.
The overall importance of the youth culture to international drug traffickers is indicated by the quantity of drugs that have been confiscated. This year heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis, mephedrone, steroids, methamphetamine and magic mushroom spores – $10 million worth of drugs destined for the Gold Coast were seized before reaching Schoolies parties. Australian Law enforcement, including Australian Federal Police, state police and Customs and Border Protection officers staged 74 raids in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia in an effort to diminish availability of drugs to party goers.
The Schoolies event, which is considered a right of passage for Australian youth completing secondary school, began in the 1970s with a mad dash for the waves to memorialize “freedom at last” from studies.
But since then, it has expanded to a full week of revelry and is attended by 10s of thousands at multiple venues. “Toolies (media name for people too old to be a Schoolie or youth diverted to apprenticeship programs prior to graduation)” and “Foolies” (pre-grads still in high school) have expanded the numbers and made the event even more a target for traffickers. No longer confined to the Gold Coast, Schoolies venues now also include Bali and the Fuji Islands.
By contrast, another tradition takes place halfway across the world as U.S. College students by the 100s of thousands converge on tourist cities, like Acapulco, Mexico, for their traditional Spring Break parties and concerts.
Far from using the events for recruitment, a massive influx of youth is barely a distraction to drug cartels vying for control of trade routes to a $40 billion dollar market already established in the US. Virtually coinciding with college Spring Break 2010, grisly murders and decapitations by drug cartels were carried out alongside the major MTV concert that was the center piece of Spring Break activities.
“It points up the brutal reality that exists behind the party scenes that traffickers worldwide rely on to recruit new users,” says Wiggins. “Drugs can never give you freedom, but our graduates from the Narconon program tell us that they have never felt more free once they are finally free of drug cravings.” He added.
For more information about the Narconon drug rehab program call 1 800-775-8750 or visit www.narconon.org
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Addiction isn’t easy for anyone, anywhere, anytime. But when the addict is a pregnant woman, she too often makes an addict out of a helpless, defenseless unborn child. 
