Narconon Europe/UK History 2003

Across the UK, the Narconon drug prevention and education teams reached more than 13,000 people, a substantial increase over the prior year. In Scotland, educators used street fairs, shopping centers and even street corners as venues for their drug prevention events. In the course of their events, they met many people who needed their help with addiction treatment and were able to refer several students to Narconon Romandie in Switzerland.

Year after year, the drug education team in Sweden keeps expanding its reach. In 2003, teams in Stockholm, Vesteras and other cities reached a total of 28,382 young people, corporate staff and parents with the anti-drug message, Narconon-style.

Just across the Baltic Sea in Denmark, the booklet “Ten Things Your Friends May Not Know about Drugs” was translated into Danish with plans to next translate it into Norwegian. The drug education teams also had appearances on television and radio shows and enlightened government officials and politicians about the workability of Narconon.

Narconon Denmark also received student referrals for the drug rehabilitation program from the chairman of the Bergen Parents’ Association in Norway. Two students sent to the Denmark Narconon were even paid for by the Norwegian government. In fact, the person who referred these students to Denmark even applied for and received his own license to open a Narconon center in Norway.

In 2003, the Presidents of Narconon Int and Narconon Europe were very busy educating and enlightening government and non-governmental officials across Europe. In October, both Presidents briefed six officials at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna. The committee they briefed was composed of chiefs of drug rehabilitation and drug prevention for the agency who all showed a strong interest in the Narconon New Life Detoxification. After the briefing, the attendees asked that Narconon staff visit the different branch offices of the UNODC to educate more of their staff on the addiction solutions offered by Narconon.

In January, Bo Persson, the President of Narconon Europe, visited Hungary by invitation of community leaders and rehab professionals. Besides presenting them with information about Narconon, he was interviewed on television and was featured in newspaper articles. After this groundwork prepared the field for the arrival of the Narconon drug rehabilitation technology, the first Hungarian Narconon rehab center opened in August.

Also in January, Mr. Persson visited members of the European Parliament and the Council of Europe to make the results of the Narconon drug rehabilitation program known. He was able to correct the many false ideas people had about drug addiction and rehabilitation. As a result, Mr. Persson was able to enlist the support of twenty-three European governmental officials for Declaration #342 from the European Council for the Drug-Free Future for all the Children of Europe. With this support, it became an official publication of the European Commission.