AUSTRALIAN SCIENTOLOGISTS MARK TWO DECADES OF EFFECTIVE DRUG EDUCATION

The Church of Scientology in Australia conducts drug education activities to help the community.

According to the most recent Australia Crime Commission Illicit Drugs Report, clandestine drug laboratory detections in the country have risen by 245 percent in the last decade. The urgency of dealing with the drug problem was brought to the fore last week when Western Australia enacted its new drug policy, described by the media as the nation’s toughest drug laws, designed to target the growing number of drug labs manufacturing methamphetamine and other substances—177 busted last year and 44 found so far in 2012.

For the past two decades, the Church of Scientology has taken a practical and proactive approach to drug abuse, educating youth on the physical and mental effects of drugs. In that time, Australian Scientologists have:

• Distributed 2.5 million drug education booklets and fliers containing factual information about marijuana, Ecstasy, painkillers and other drugs of choice, in markets, fairs and through street events.
• Inspired 300,000 Australian youths to pledge to live drug-free lives.
• Translated drug education materials in Japanese, Indonesian and Korean to make this information available to Australian youth who speak these languages. They have also arranged for the translation of these booklets into Samoan, Tagalog and Malaysian.

To learn more about the drug prevention initiative sponsored by the Church of Scientology or to participate, visit the Scientology website.

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The Church of Scientology sponsors one of the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention campaigns. When young people are provided with the truth about drugs—factual information on what drugs are and what they do—usage rates drop commensurately.

A being is only as valuable as he can serve others.~~~ L. Ron Hubbard; founder of the Scientology religion

THE SKY IS NO LIMIT FOR PILOT LARS NAJBJERG

Whether piloting passenger jets, flying aerobatics competitions or taking part in military defense exercises on behalf of NATO, Lars Najbjerg doesn’t just participate, he excels. His video is one of 200 “Meet a Scientologist” videos available on the Scientology website atwww.Scientology.org

When assembling model airplanes at age five, Lars Najbjerg was not just playing—he was preparing for his career.

Growing up in the shadow of the Soviet Union in the height of the Cold War, when he was 18 Najbjerg applied to train as a NATO fighter pilot.

“I knew there was more to being a good pilot that physical ability—there was a psychological factor as well,” he says. “Studying everything I could find on the subject, I read Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and I knew I had found something workable. The book changed my whole attitude.”

Of hundreds of applicants, Najbjerg was one of the five accepted. He completed NATO flight school training at Sheppard Air Force Base in Texas in 1986.

"I've always wanted to test myself—to push myself to the limit,” he says. “As a fighter pilot you learn early on it’s not the airplane that determines your success, it is how well you can cope mentally. Sure, it’s physically demanding to be subjected to pressure nine times stronger than gravity. But the psychological factors are even more important.”

Najbjerg progressed in Scientology, achieving the State of Clear in 1991—a state in which one no longer has his own reactive mind, the hidden source of irrational behavior, unreasonable fears, upsets and insecurities. He describes how the ability he gained made the difference.

"I was testing the spin characteristics of a two-seat aerobatic aircraft. Spinning is a maneuver where the plane is flown out of control, rotating in small circles towards the ground,” he says. “Suddenly, the engine stopped. Instead of reacting with sweaty palms and panic, I analyzed what went wrong and got the engine going. Then I tried the maneuver again. Once more the engine stopped. After several attempts I was able to adjust the engine to correct the problem. I would never have been calm enough to troubleshoot the engine, before I went Clear.”

While he views military defense against the threat of aggression as necessary, he believes that freedom depends on far more fundamental factors.

“War is a social insanity that grows out of ignorance and intolerance,” he says. “It is a terrible solution for lack of one that is more humane. The real challenge is to create a world where we can live together in peace.”

To that end, Najbjerg, 44, devotes his efforts to humanitarian volunteer work. He is chairman of the Humanitarian Association of Denmark, and an active supporter of the Say No To Drugs campaign.

Najbjerg, wife Lisbet, and their five-year-old son Noah live in the town of Them in the Silkeborg municipality on the Jutland peninsula in Denmark. Lisbet, a dentist, also holds a staff position at the Church of Scientology Mission of Silkeborg.

View the Lars Najbjerg video at Scientology.org.

A being is only as valuable as he can serve others.~~~ L. Ron Hubbard; founder of the Scientology religion