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Title: Scientologists Mobilize Across France in Grassroots Anti-Drug Campaign

PARIS — While French health officials continue to prioritize “harm reduction” policies — from supervised injection sites to cannabis decriminalization debates — a different kind of drug prevention intervention is unfolding on sidewalks, in shops, and outside schools across the country.Led by volunteers from the Church of Scientology under its Drug-Free World banner, a nationwide august campaign distributed more than 10,500 educational booklets, engaged hundreds of merchants and educators, and collected dozens of youth pledges — all centered on a simple, unfashionable message: Just say no to drugs.The campaign, which ran throughout August, reached Marseille’s northern neighborhoods, Brittany’s coastal towns, Toulouse’s public squares, and Paris’ Opera Garnier — turning everyday spaces into impromptu prevention zones.It is an effort that operates largely outside state funding or institutional endorsement. Yet in a country where drug-induced deaths reached 614 in 2022 — a figure described by the French Observatory for Drugs and Drug Addiction (OFDT) as “continuing an upward trend since 2010” — and where emergency room visits for cocaine use nearly doubled between 2011 and 2021, according to Sante Publique France, the campaign’s persistence — and its reception among educators, health professionals, and local merchants — suggests it is filling a gap that official policy has yet to fully address.A Campaign Built on Boots, Not Bureaucracy: The August rollout was methodical, decentralized, and hyper-local.On August 19 in Marseille, volunteers distributed 600 booklets and secured agreements with seven local shops to display materials. A week later in La Fleche, in western France, 847 booklets went out — 30 businesses signed on, and a schoolteacher took three copies to use in cla...

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