Gateway to the Emergency Room

More than 94 million Americans (40% of the population) age 12 and older have tried marijuana at least once, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

While there was a temporary drop in marijuana use reported between 2001 and 2004, there is still a large concern about this drug.

Per a recent report from the Drug Abuse Warning System, marijuana was a contributing factor in over 119,000 emergency room visits reported less than two years ago.

About 15% of those patients in the emergency room were between ages 12 and 17. About 2/3 of them were male.

What we see now is a leveling off of marijuana use, with spikes of use among school children, particularly 12 graders.

This of course leads to other societal problems, such as an increase in drug arrests.

On average, 57% of male and 32% of female arrestees tested positive for marijuana.

And it is known that marijuana use is associated with and leads to taking other drugs.

If you take into account that today's marijuana is 10 times more potent than it was 30 years ago, you can see that we are facing a serious problem.

We have all heard that marijuana is a gateway drug.

There is some truth to that.

However, what we must be acutely aware of is that, as a society, we are suffering from an underlying problem, which precedes marijuana use.

Until that more-basic problem is addressed and handled, we are not likely to win the war on drugs.

WHY are kids turning to drugs at alarming numbers?

The answer is: lack of proper and effective education on this subject!

That is the underlying problem. It's not because teachers don't want to help their students!

They simply lack reliable educational materials that effectively convey the truth about drugs to their students.

And so the drug problem keeps escalating.

That is why, at Friends of Narconon, we are dedicated to bringing youth the truth about drugs.

Our surveys show that, when they have the truth, 80% of them decide to not use drugs!

Although our videos are being played in over 5500 public schools nationwide, reaching millions, we have more than 90,000 schools to go!

We need to reach them all with our effective video, "Marijuana The Myth."

We need your help. School is back in session.

Kids are using drugs and we need to help them make the right decisions not to do them, before they become another statistic.

Contact Donna Miller at Friends of Narconon and sponsor a school today!

CALL: 1-800-882-6862.

It only costs $200 to sponsor a school.

Each video can reach over 3000 students during its life (only 7 cents per student!).

You may purchase your own Marijuana The Myth DVD for $47.

Sincerely,
Robert Hernandez, CCDC*
President, Friends of Narconon, Intl.
*Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor

PS: If you'd like to sponsor a school, just click here (or copy and paste into your browser):
http://www.friendsofnarconon.org/drug_education/school_sponsorship_program/

If you'd like to make a donation right now, click here (or copy and paste into your browser): http://friendsofnarconon.org/

© 2006 Friends of Narconon, Intl. All Rights Reserved. Narconon, the Narconon logo, and the Narconon "Jumping Man" logo are trademarks and service marks owned by Association for Better Living