Down Under (and to the Side)

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour is in Auckland New Zealand, and is about to launch on a tour of most of the islands of the South Pacific.

I have some Kiwi (New Zealander) friends and to hear them talk about the country it is the best land on earth. The first Kiwi I knew was actually a Dutchman who had emigrated there, and you NEVER heard anyone more biased and chauvanistic toward that country than he was. He told me that the nickname for the country is "God's Own." If I'm to believe what I'm told, it has everything. Pleasant weather, never too cold; skiing in the mountains; swimming in the Ocean; the best dairy products, produce and lamb on earth....

But New Zealand has its problems - and one of them is the increase in drug use.

According to the Alcohol and Drug Association of New Zealand,

"The 35% increase in calls to the national Alcohol & Drug Helpline during the past year shows that alcohol and drugs increasingly affect our community, according to Cate Kearney, manager of the Alcohol Drug Association New Zealand (ADA) which runs the Helpline.'At the same time, there has been a noticeable increase in drug-related calls, which almost doubled over the past year,' she said."

The Scientology Volunteer Ministers Goodwill Tour has a terrific booklet on how to overcome drug dependency. Anyone with a friend of family member who is having trouble with drugs should get that booklet, which is a chapter of the Scientology Handbook because by using the information you can really give them a chance for a new life.

Mr. David Miscavige described the problem so aptly in his speech at the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre, titled This is Scientology:

The answer to this planet’s problems will not be found in the “material.” Of this there can be no question. For if those solutions can’t prevent war nation to nation, how then can it be expected to answer questions like “love,” “happiness” or “peace of mind?” So, we can’t expect the answer to be found in chemicals. Not unless one buys into a synthesized utopia, or a “Brave New World,” with a perfect pleasure drug.

Yet that is precisely what we see in the world today, with multi-million dollar conglomerates providing a cornucopia of new pills as a panacea to all ills — making the pharmaceutical industry the most profitable business on the planet — more than banking, high finance, oil or computers. Common sense tells us it’s the wrong answer.

After all, it isn’t just mere coincidence that the arrival of those new drugs always coincide with the expiration of the last one’s patent. That’s a fact.

And when the success of the latest “feel good” pill is judged by profit, well don’t be surprised when happiness isn’t the result. After all, what then would happen with all those blue chip stocks?

As any businessman knows — good marketing strategy requires the constant outflow of new product. And besides, the statistics say it all — those pills are not working.

In addition to the work of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers, the Church has just announced a new anti-drug campaign that I, for one, think is terrific.

The last thing I want to see if for kids to be taken in by the pro-drug hype. I've seen far too many lives wrecked with drugs, and if that happens to even one kid, that's too many.

Here;s a suite where you can find out more about the Scientology anti-drug campaing