LOS ANGELES, CA, June 18, 2026 /24-7PressRelease/ — Los Angeles has struggled with drug overdoses for years, but recent data suggest improvement. According to the LA County Public Health Department, in 2024, drug-related deaths declined 22 percent compared to previous years. Fentanyl-related deaths fell 37 percent and meth-related deaths dropped 20 percent in 2024 compared to earlier years. Drug-related overdose and poisoning deaths dropped from 3,137 deaths in 2023 to 2,438 deaths in 2024, the lowest number recorded since 2019.
But let’s not kid ourselves: 2,438 still died in LA county and over 70,000 still died across the USA from drug overdoses. The war against drugs is still raging. So what drives the decline? An important factor is education. This is a key point: Prevention works before the first pill, the first powder, the first needle, the first mistake. Truth About Drugs educational booklets have been handed out to hundreds of thousands of youth and adults in Los Angeles County in recent years. It goes hand in hand that wherever a concentration of the booklets has been given out, there follows a drop in drug related issues. These educational booklets have been given out free for many years all over the USA and the world by Foundation for a Drug-Free World. Its award-winning educational materials have reached 25 percent of all middle and high schools in the USA. Since just the beginning of last year, more than 22 million of its Truth About Drugs booklets have been distributed worldwide. And, in total, more than 183 million booklets have been distributed in 22 languages. That is prevention at scale.
For example, whenever there are sports games at a city sports stadium, it is an opportunity to give out the Truth About Drugs booklets to a lot of people. During the current FIFA games being played in 16 cities in Canada, Mexico and the United States, June through July, many groups will have an opportunity to do this.
The booklets are a public service by Church of Scientology. It is a series of booklets which provide facts about fentanyl, cannabis, crack, cocaine, crystal methamphetamine, ecstasy, heroin, LSD, prescription painkillers and other addictive drugs, allowing the reader to decide for himself to live a drug-free life.
Based on Scientology Founder L. Ron Hubbard’s research finding “the single most destructive element present in our current culture is drugs,” Scientology Churches and Scientologists support Foundation for a Drug-Free World whose materials are provided free of charge to schools, civic groups, governments, law enforcement, and individuals and institutions in the private sector. In the Los Angeles area the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre International has been very active for years distributing Truth About Drugs Booklets throughout the community and will continue to do so.
For more information visit the Drug-Free World website at https://www.drugfreeworld.org/ or to get involved, visit the Church of Scientology Celebrity Centre Int website at https://www.scientology.cc
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