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Education

Scientologists push anti-drug classes in schools

Published: 11 May 12 08:11 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/40762/20120511/

The anti-drug organization Drogfritt, which has ties to Scientology, has been selling lectures and information on drug abuse to Swedish schools, information that includes significant factual errors, according to an investigation carried out by newspaper Svenska Dagbladet (SvD).

“It’s terrible when youngsters are being fed a lot of erroneous information,” said narcotics researcher Björn Johnsson to the paper.

During the lecture, the audience is told that dependency sets in from the first time someone tries a drug; that antidepressants, sleeping pills and paracetamol is stored in the body; and that people fall back into drug abuse through a so called “flashback”, when a drug “reawakens” in the body years or even decades after the person stopped using them.

But Swedish experts on drugs and drug abuse roundly repudiated the group's claims about how drugs interact with the body when approached by the paper.

“No, no, no, that’s not how it works. That’s a myth that circulates among certain drug users,” Johnson said about the "flashback" phenomenon.

One of the lecturers, Alexander Breeze, works with the lecture tours full time and talks to children, teenagers and parents about drugs, as well as at corporate events, holding some 250-300 lectures annually.

In interview with SvD, he made no secret of being a Scientologist.

However, according to Drogfritt, the organization is politically and religiously independent, but implement the Narconon prevention programme, which is based on Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard’s ideas.

And in 2003 the group's chairwoman, Åsa Graaf, was awarded the International association of Scientologists Freedom Medal for her work against drug abuse, according to SvD.

According to SvD’s investigation, 65 of Sweden’s 290 municipalities have purchased lecture series from the organization over the last three years to a value of 750,000 kronor ($108,000).

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08:32 May 11, 2012 by RobinHood
A respected English High Court judge described the Church of Scientology as "corrupt, sinister and dangerous", during a case that involved Scientology and children.

If your children's school is in anyway connected to the Drogfritt program, write to the school informing them about the link between Drogfritt and the Church of Scientology, and make sure your child is not present at school when Drogfritt representatives are in the building.
08:57 May 11, 2012 by engagebrain
Religions can be classified on a scale of harmless through to barking. Scientology is seriously at the wrong end of this scale and has major interest in cash flow. Brains and pockets are at risk.
10:20 May 11, 2012 by Almirante
Robin Hood, above, is such a dedicated hate-monger that she has to reach back 26 years into a divorce proceeding and bring forward a hate-quote from a judge whose decisions were constantly called into question and reviewed.

Let Drogfritt alone! What kind of sick mind wants to stop children from getting anti-drug messages? Is the current bureaucracy dong such a great job?

The statements about so-called "factual errors" come from a vested interest whose costly but failed system of drug prevention, treatment and rehabilitation has actually _created_ tens of thousands of addicts in Sweden.

Remember that each addict must steal or steal 1500 extra Euros every week to feed his/her habit. That money either comes from your car or wallet--or from their children's dinner plates.

If the helpful Drogfritt program is fought, more addicts will be created by the stumbling, self-aggrandizing bureaucracy that pretends to be a drug program in Sweden. Why does failure have any right to criticize?

Isn't it time for some new ideas in this field? For some ideas that actually will work?

For a progressive country, the views in the article are very backward.
12:14 May 11, 2012 by Marc Abian
LOL, Almirante hurls the tired insult of "hate-monger" against someone who dares question the so-called "science" espoused by a Scientology front group.

They state that someone has "reach back 26 years" to refer to critical information about the cult. OK, how about the last month? That's when health officials in Quebec shut down one of Narconon's factilities for failing to meet many of the basic standards of rehab programs.

It's a pretty common tack for Scientologists to smear critics of their anti-drug programs as being in favor of substance abuse or even drug dealers themselves. In truth, the "cures" advanced by programs such as Narconon have no basis in science and can be quite dangerous, such as having patients ingest massive amounts of Niacin, which can be toxic to the already compromised livers of many drug and alcohol abusers.

"Isn't it time for some new ideas?" Another common refrain from Scientologists. No, not if they're bad ones with no scientific basis. Those sorts of "new ideas" offer no concrete assistance for drug abusers and no real path to prevention or recovery. They do, however, offer a financial boon and PR relief for the struggling and scandal-plagued Church of Scientology.
12:26 May 11, 2012 by Puffin
@ Almirante - are you serious?

You want your kids to be taught that

- prescribed medication such as anti-depressents are addictive from the first tablet you take? So you should not take prescribed medication if you don't want to become and addict

- that you will test positive for drugs years after you take them

- that paracetamol will affect you years later

It strikes me as totally irresponsible to say things like this to teenagers - dangerous even if they stop taking prescribed meds based on this message

I think that sects should be kept out of school
13:23 May 11, 2012 by Åskar
Q: Is there any science in Scientology?

A: It's a very scientific way to separate fools from their money.
13:35 May 11, 2012 by polymorf
I thought faith based 'science' was special to the Americans... Either way, the Scientologists are wrong. It's a scientific fact that the Flying Spaghetti Monster is solely responsible for drugs having an affect on the body, ergo, Flying Spaghetti Monster is the only one who can cure drug addiction.

QED. Scientology is wrong.

But seriously, does Sweden allow creation theory to be taught in their schools in lieu of evolution? Of course not. Do they pay outside religious fundamentalists to lecture on creationism because the school system lacks it? Of course not. Religion based alternative theories to science have no place in public education. Drogfritt should be at least barred from lecturing at the public's expense, in a better world they should also be convicted for fraud and have to advertised that they are a religious, not scientific, based organization.
15:47 May 11, 2012 by bcterry
"A respected English High Court judge described the Church of Scientology as "corrupt, sinister and dangerous", during a case that involved Scientology and children."

That describes all manmade mythologies.
16:05 May 11, 2012 by Borilla
A cult is a scam and the leader knows it. A religion is a scam whose leader is dead. Scientology's leader is dead, so now it calls itself a religion.
16:52 May 11, 2012 by Vermaldeehide
All of these child slave masters will get theirs, it's inevitable. I only wish I had a countdown for it. Just so I would have time to make popcorn and get a good seat.
17:48 May 11, 2012 by eovti
If you speak up against the Scientologists, they will send their lawyers at you and sue you for umpteen million dollars.
19:51 May 11, 2012 by ?????
"to a value of 750,000 kronor "!!!!!!

Why am I paying taxes again?
20:38 May 11, 2012 by Mark S.
If you want to ensure that your children do not believe any of the warnings about drugs, be sure to tell them a few lies.

For example, tell them that marijuana will make you insane. Then tell them that heroin will leave you unable to function as a human being.

After they see that their friends smoke marijuana with no detectable injury, what will they think about your statement about heroin?

When they discover you lied, you lose all your credibility.
01:26 May 12, 2012 by Grokh
why are they even allowed near a school is beyond anyone.
02:00 May 12, 2012 by Mr. Dude
I would rather see my kid smoke a little weed then have her join a sinister mind control cult. Just Google "wally hanks beating a child" to hear a child being beat by a high level Scientology "minister".
08:27 May 12, 2012 by Trenatos
How can schools allow this?

My personal dislike for Scientology aside, the schoolsystem is a place of learning, so the fact that they're spreading wrong information alone should be enough to put and end to this group working in schools, taking money out of the schoolsystem that could have been used to proved real solid information from credible sources.
15:04 May 12, 2012 by bcterry
Report abuse »

#15

02:00 May 12, 2012 by Mr. Dude

I would rather see my kid smoke a little weed then have her join a sinister mind control cult. Just Google "wally hanks beating a child" to hear a child being beat by a high level Scientology "minister".

You will see the same kind of child abuse and mind control in many other religions, (cults).
18:06 May 13, 2012 by Unconditional1
Scientology is like all other religions. Control the people's free-will, and you control their lives. Dogma and free-will go together like choker-chains and dogs. Let free-will roam just as far as dogma (controled and manipulated by someone else), is allowed to explore. After that distance has been determined to overstep the controlled conditions, a good stiff jerk of the free-will cincturing chain , will bring the puppy back into the religious "whelping box!"
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