The Drug-Free Marshals, Kids Fighting Drugs By Bringing Awareness: San Diego youth taking charge of

The Padilla sisters donned their white Drug-Free Marshals t-shirts and prepared the badges and booklets for their visit to a local youth group at the Body of Christ Community Church in Rancho Peñasquitos, San Diego. They will be swearing in new Drug-Free Marshals, kids who want to help their community be drug-free.

The sisters, Veronica, 13, and Barbara, 10, from Chula Vista, represent a group of dedicated youth in the San Diego area who have taken the seven-point pledge which stresses being informed, helping others, setting a good example and leading the way to a drug-free USA. The Drug-Free Marshals anti-drug campaign, started by the Church of Scientology International in 1993, acknowledges youth from all races, religions for living a drug-free life.

"I think of the quote from Humanitarian L. Ron Hubbard, ‘When children become unimportant to a society, that society has forfeited its future," said Veronica Albano, the San Diego Drug-Free Marshals’ Coordinator. "Our future depends on their success in life. When I started this program in San Diego and saw the positive effects it created, kids were proud to be drug-free and honored they could actually do something about drugs in their area. Why wait until people are down & out to do something about it. Prevention and education is far more effective in the long run and the kids have fun helping others," Albano added.

Since the program started in San Diego, the Drug-Free Marshals have visited cities ranging from Escondido to La Mesa to San Ysidro, swearing in their peers, marching in parades, participating in crime-free events and festivals, and passing out booklets about the harmful effects of illegal drugs, such as Marijuana and Cocaine. They have also visited a local mayor, council members, and law enforcement, letting them know what they are doing to help fight drugs in the community.

To spread the word about the harmful effects of drugs, the Drug-Free Marshals campaign also conducts a massive world-wide multi-lingual drug education effort responsible for distributing more than a million booklets describing the effects of cocaine, ecstasy, and marijuana. The booklets are handed out at festivals, parades, local businesses, police stations, clubs, churches and community coalitions.


Joseph Ayers, a 5th grader from Spring Valley Elementary and a Drug-Free Marshal since 2002 says "I know how bad drugs can hurt people and this is how I can help make people stop taking drugs. I do this so they know how bad drugs can be and they can give these booklets to someone they know."

For more information about the Drug-Free Marshals visit www.drugfreemarshals.org or email dfmsandiego@hotmail.com.