With more than 50 percent of young people having taken illegal drugs by the age of 17, a program is mobilizing schoolchildren as a key part in the fight against the multi-billion dollar drug industry. The DrugFree Marshals Program was highlighted at a celebration of the UN International Day Against Drug Abuse, at the Church of Scientology in Manhattan, last Thursday night.

Meghan Fialkoff, New York Director of the Foundation for a Drug Free World and the Drug-Free Marshals, was joined onstage by Deputy Inspector Amin G Kosseim, with the NYPD Office of Special Projects (Bureau of Community Affairs), and Gerald Jeremiah, representing the United Nations Non-Governmental Organization on Narcotic and Substance Abuse.

Fialkoff described the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, and the Drug-Free Marshal Program's main elements, including a pledge which has been taken by more than 5 million young people around the world, 20 million copies of drug education booklets distributed so far, and lectures to schools and after-school programs, designed to empower students to make their own choice-the obvious choice, given the facts-about drugs.

Inspector Kosseim talked about the NYPD's programs, including the GREAT program (targeting gang involvement), the Youth and Police Academy, the Law Enforcement Explorers Program, and the Police Athletic League, which provide both information and alternatives to reduce drug abuse. He also said he believed "the Church of Scientology's Drug-Free Marshals program is playing a vital part" in encouraging young to avail themselves of alternatives.

Jeremiah, of Daytop, Inc., speaking for the UN NGO Committee on Drug Abuse, spoke of the need for community and family involvement to solve this problem, calling for more realistic education internationally, and earlier, on the effects of drugs.

Federico Perez, former Puerto Rican Day Parade president, representing Congressman Jose E. Serrano, then helped honor ten young people from the Bronx, Harlem, Manhattan, and New Jersey, who have been active as Drug-Free Marshals, spreading the word for a drug-free life. After the young people were honored for their work, they helped "swear in" the audience themselves as Marshals.

The evening ended with an invitation from Fialkoff to those in attendance, to join in, and to let anyone interested in reducing drug abuse, to contact her at (516) 637-7645 to arrange a program in their area.