2004 History Digest: Year of Expansion in African, Australia and Asia for Narconon
Narconon Johannesburg spent 2004 in the new quarters they had moved into so they could expand their service. In the new, larger space, they were able to serve 30% more people plus they graduated more drug-free students than ever before.
Narconon Johannesburg also found opportunities to work with the community by training Johannesburg police officers and drug prevention specialists. Officers came from Boksburg, Duduza, Vosloorus and Zonkizizwe stations for the training. One of the officers stated that he had been able to deliver a much improved anti-drug presentation to children after his training.
In Ghana, Joe Appiah began to deliver drug education after he learned the Narconon method of drug prevention. In the two years ending in 2004, Joe reached more than 20,000 schoolchildren. On the heels of this accomplishment, the Narconon Ghana drug education and prevention center had its grand opening. They were welcomed by Linda Eshen, assistant director of the Ghana Education Service.
Community and government representatives attended a First Step workshop where they learned how to help someone get off drugs in a tolerable and healthy way. After the workshop, an executive with the Accra Psychiatric Hospital wrote: “I recommend the establishment of Narconon be recommended by the government of (my) country.” He then began delivering drug education lectures himself.
In Cape Town, where there is a serious heroin addiction problem, Narconon has been offer their drug education and rehabilitation help. First, six members of a community substance abuse support group learned to deliver the First Step Programs so they can help addicts through a tolerable withdrawal.
Second, an executive of the Narconon New Life Center worked with South Africa’s largest cell phone company to sponsor training for drug prevention specialists. Soon, seventeen police officers were delivering drug prevention lectures to 28 schools. They followed in the footsteps of Robert van der Feyst who had already delivered drug education lectures to more than 37,000 children in Cape Town.
Narconon in Australia Gets Busy on Many Fronts
In Australia, Narconon staff and volunteers reached out very busily on many fronts. In Melbourne, the Narconon drug rehabilitation program delivered the Narconon drug recovery program to more people than ever before, including their first Arab-speaking student from Oman. They also helped with fund-raising to get the Narconon materials translated into Mandarin Chinese for the first Narconon in Taiwan.
Melbourne staff and volunteers also delivered a steady stream of drug educations lectures. In one three week period in 2004, they delivered 26 lectures. Charlie Tonna is one of their top volunteer drug educators.
In Victoria, the Narconon drug education group received the endorsement of the government when they obtained full charity status.
Narconon Makes Positive Inroads into Asia
Asia is not an area that had previously experienced much of what Narconon had to offer. But that began to change in 2004.
In Malaysia, businessmen from a multinational corporation learned about Narconon from the website and then sent one of their members to Narconon International to learn how to open centers in his part of the world.
In Thailand, once the manager of the Quality Golf Company was briefed on Narconon drug education, he insisted on utilizing the Thai version of “The Truth about Drugs” booklet in his business.
And Narconon Taiwan continues to produce drug- free lives. At the end of 2004, they had outgrown their space in Hua Lien and began to look for larger premises outside of the city.
Narconon Reaches into the Hearts of India, Pakistan and Nepal
No longer is Narconon simply a Western technology – not since it has arrived in India, Pakistan, Nepal and other parts of Asia. In New Delhi, drug education lectures in schools have been changing minds. After one of these lectures, one student wrote: “I personally thought that drugs enhance one’s performance since many athletes take it. But with this talk I came to know the harmful effects of drugs intake. My perspective towards drugs has changed.”
Narconon has reached Nepal via the Pratigya center in Kathmandu (“Pratigya” means commitment). Nepal is a country with an estimated 150,000 addicts but only 500 rehabilitation center beds in the entire country. Narconon Nepal strives to change this situation by serving 40 students at a time in their rehab facility. In addition, since a large proportion of those addicted are young, they do many drug education lectures in the local schools.
In Pakistan, volunteers and staff from Narconon centers in Europe have been trekking to Sindh Province, Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. Volunteers Geoffrey and Agnes Barton have made drug prevention presentations to more than 15,000 students.
And two executives from Europe delivered workshops and presentations to the Pakistani Anti-Narcotic Force, to the Pilot Institute of Scientific Management and to medical students and professors at the Hyderbad University Hospital. Now hundreds of professionals and anti-drug abuse workers have been introduced to this effective anti-drug technology.