Creating a drug-free movement across Hungary
- In the past year, over 271 million people worldwide have used an illicit drug.
- An estimated 42 million years of “healthy” life was lost in 2017, as a result of drug use.
- Every hour, over 2,300 people visit drugfreeworld.org, looking for solutions.
- Over 15.3 million Truth About Drugs booklets have been passed out in the last year.
Every day, another child is offered the next “cool” drug, or a family member is lost to drug abuse and addiction.
It’s a fact. Drugs harm the lives of millions. Every city, state and country is faced with this problem. That is why drug education is one of the biggest weapons in the fight against drugs.
Every month thousands of orders are fulfilled for the Truth About Drugs materials for free, thanks to IAS grants. One order could be from a teacher implementing the Drug-Free World program in their classroom or from a police officer ordering thousands of booklets for citywide distribution.
The campaign is designed for anyone, anywhere, to be able to start a grassroots drug education movement in their community.
For example, in Hungary, Drug-Free World started an annual tradition that has now become a national interest and one of the largest anti-drug events in the country. Every year, for 42 days, a team of runners traverse hundreds of miles to cities across the country, spreading the message for a drug-free Hungary.
This year, the 18th annual Drug-Free World marathon was successfully completed with record numbers. The team distributed over 330,000 Truth About Drugs booklets to individuals, local businesses and law enforcement.
They also visited over 320 schools and conducted 148 drug-education lectures, reaching thousands of kids. A mother told the story of how she met the Drug-Free World marathon team when her children were 10 and 13 years old. Up to that point she had nightmares for years that her children would be offered drugs at school or a party, and she had no knowledge on how to educate them. She then found the Truth About Drugs materials, and she knew she had the solutions to keeping her children off drugs. Her children now live a drug-free and happy life.
In a small town in northern Hungary, after the Drug-Free World team held a pledge signing, a little girl went up to one of the volunteers and said, “I just want my mom to stop taking drugs!” She then took the booklets home to her mother.
This is just one example of the Drug-Free World activities that happen every week around the globe.
