2008-05-27 08:57:06 - Substance abuse is an important issue in the city of Košice, Slovakia and when members of the Scientology Volunteer Ministers European Cavalcade asked officials in the city what help they needed, they answered immediately - drug education to help youth avoid the tragedy of addiction.

In this city, children as young as 5 years of age start abusing drugs by sniffing glue, so the Volunteer Ministers held drug education lectures in local schools and community centers. These lectures not only gave the children the facts about substance abuse, they also helped them learn how to cope with problems that lead young people to abuse drugs

in the first place. From a chapter of the Scientology Handbook, the youngsters learned about the emotional tone scale. They learned how to tell whom they can trust and who does not have their best interests at heart, and they know now that drugs will not make them happy, no matter how "high" they make them feel in the short run.

"The children are so beautiful," said one of the volunteers, "and we have never received so many thank you letters. One of the local mayors thanked for us repeatedly for our work. It was a joy to help these children with the drug ed lectures."

In their stay in Košice, the volunteers also provided courses, seminars and workshops on disaster relief and one-on-one help to thousands of people. Local hospital workers will also remember the Volunteer Ministers as the people who introduced them to Scientology assists* and helped them gain the skill to enable their patients to overcome the emotional and spiritual trauma that prolongs illness and blocks recovery.

The Volunteer Ministers have now been officially accepted as part of the civil protection force for the region. The Continental European Cavalcade, which is now moving on to Austria, trained a corps of new Volunteer Ministers who will fulfill that responsibility and be on call to help the community in times of emergency.

When he developed the Volunteer Ministers program in the 1970s, L. Ron Hubbard wrote, "If one does not like the crime, cruelty, injustice and violence of this society, he can do something about it. He can become a Volunteer Minister and help civilize it, bring it conscience and kindness and love and freedom from travail by instilling into it trust, decency, honesty and tolerance."


*Scientology assists are techniques developed by L. Ron Hubbard that speed healing by addressing the spiritual component of illness and injury.