Narconon CIS History 2003
It’s possible that there was more drug education in the Commonwealth of Independent States than in any other part of the world. To continue the expansion, a person was put in charge of drug education for this entire zone. As a result, more groups and centers opened and expanded their delivery throughout 2003. For example, St. Petersburg reached 16,387 people; Kharkov delivered to nearly 8,000; the new group in Chelny added another 2,781. All together, there were 173,125 CIS citizens who received the correct information of the dangers of drugs from Narconon drug educators.
Kazakhstan drug educators found many different groups for their drug education presentations. They presented their information to students, teachers, army camps, prisons and more. In this country alone, there were 46,000 people educated on drugs.
In Kharkov, Ukraine, one Narconon drug educator has been dedicated to getting the word out for the last five years. In 1997, she discovered the Narconon drug educator training materials, studied them and then never looked back. In addition to meeting and educating many officials, teachers and public figures, Marina Gribanova has also appears on television many times. She has received more than 200 official recognitions and commendations, but most remarkable of all is the number of students she has reached with her drug education lectures. In five years, she gave 2,000 lectures to well over 200,000 students!
The Narconon centers in Ekaterinburg and Dimitrovgrad have both been expanding rapidly. In Ekaterinburg, the drug education staff reached more than 4,300 people in 2003. The Dimitrovgrad staff reached more than 8,000 and as a result, their drug rehabilitation facility was filled to capacity nearly all year. They had to add more residences to accommodate the volume.
There’s a Narconon drug rehabilitation facility in Krasnoyarsk as well. They have been working with government agencies to reach the people who most need their services. In May, the Chief of the Police’s Anti-Drug Department gave Narconon staff a list of all the drug addicts in the region so Narconon staff could contact them. And later in the year, the post office agreed to a cooperative effort to tell people about Narconon. And so it was that nearly a quarter-million brochures about Narconon were delivered at no charge to Narconon.
On the outskirts of Moscow sits Narconon Standard. In 2003, they were outgrowing their quarters and so purchased a new building. While dozens of students were learning how to live clean and sober in the old building, the new building was being renovated so it could serve 70 students at one time.