2004 Narconon History Digest – Latin America
Latin America is fortunate to have several Narconon drug rehabilitation and prevention centers to help save lives.
The year 2004 was one of expansion for Narconon Mexico. They tripled the number of students on the drug recovery program and were very involved in drug education efforts in their community.
After the city of Pedro Escobar (a small town about a hour away from their location) requested a repeat of a marathon featuring The Way to Happiness as a theme, Marisela S. De Espinal, an executive at Narconon Mexico, suggested that a whole drug education campaign be presented at the same time as the marathon. After the city approved the request, police cars came to pick up the drug education specialists every day to take them to the schools. As part of this campaign, there were 161 Narconon drug prevention presentations given to nearly 11,000 students in 70 schools. The students wrote 2,800 success stories in appreciation for what they had learned.
As a result of this successful campaign, Marisela was appointed to be the Education Coordinator for a city-sponsored council against addiction. Soon after, the nearby town of Tequisquapan asked for the same campaign for their schools.
In Cancun, a graduate of the Narconon program decided to let people in his city know about this solution. As a result of his hard work, he organized drug prevention presentations and relayed more information to people over the radio. He even sponsored a rock concert against drugs. The theme of the concert was “For a Drug-Free World.”
Brazil Graduates and Educates
The new Narconon center in Brazil continued to expand this year, reaching their highest ever levels of production. They graduated eleven students and were also able to deliver their drug education classes in the British School in Sao Paulo.
Narconon Argentina Threatens to Outgrow its New Facility
After years of providing drug education, Pablo Rodriguez decided to save the lives of people who had already become addicted to drugs or alcohol. He opened the Narconon Argentina center in 2003. But by the time 2004 rolled around, they were filling up their new center and in negotiations for a larger facility.
Narconon Colombia Has Plenty of Expansion to Celebrate
2004 was the year that Narconon Colombia graduated their 100th student! At the same time, they were very busy training more staff to prepare for much more expansion throughout the country. Eight drug lecturers were trained and before the year was out, had delivered drug education materials to more than 6,000 people. They opened an office in Bogota that will help people learn about the Narconon drug rehabilitation program and deliver more drug education. They were also helping train staff who would travel to Venezuela after their graduations, to open a Narconon drug recovery center there.