Drug Seminars

Over the weekend of May 12, Samo’s Principal, Dr. Antonio Shelton released a call to Samo parents announcing that due to growing parental concern, the Foundation for a Drug Free World (FDFW) will no longer be running the mandatory drug awareness seminar for 9th and 10th grade students.According to a statement from the Church of Scientology, a Samo parent facilitated a conversation between FDFW and Shelton who decided on the program after its recommendation by numerous reputable organizations including the Boys and Girls Club, Boy Scouts of America, National Association of School Resource Officers and Job Corp of America. Throughout the month of May this year, all Samo 9th and 10th graders were required to attend seminars about drug use on Wednesday mornings from 8 to 9 a.m. Even though S,M and O house have already attended presentations from FDFW, H and I house will still attend the planned assemblies but with new programming.“An alternative program will replace previous programming for our remaining two assemblies,” Shelton said in the call. “I want you to know that I want to do what is best for our students. Therefore, after hearing concerns about this organization’s affiliation from parents and not wanting parents nor our students to lose focus of the important topic at hand, I am now working with local agencies to conduct these assemblies.”With Shuli Lotan, coordinator of school-based counseling programs for SMMUSD, organizing the program, it will now include SMPD, CLARE Foundation and Venice Family Clinic.Concern about FWFD arose both from the presentations themselves and from the program’s strong affiliation with the Church of Scientology. The hour-long seminars were hosted by a group of people using primarily personal narrative to convey the dangers of drug use.“I liked the structure of the presentation,” Audrey Burgomaster (’20) said. “But they relied a lot on fear tactics.”Not listed on the official FDFW website is the foundation’s affiliation with the Church of Scientology. Started by the church in 2006, FDFW has been sponsored by them since then. Some parents and students were angered by this affiliation, and complained to administration. According to Shelton, the program’s origin does not affect the material itself.“The reality of it is they don’t preach Scientology when they are giving the seminars,” Shelton said in the announcement to parents. “They didn’t say anything that would lead you to Scientology. What I don’t want to do is take away from the purpose. My agenda is not about Scientology. If it is going to deter us doing what we need to do, I will ask them not to come.”Additionally, according to students who were in attendance during the seminars, there is no mention of Scientology or the association with the Church.“If they had started pushing Scientology, I would have minded,” Cory Grewohl (’19) said. “But they didn't, so it was okay.”According to Dr. Shelton, there are multiple other sponsors of the foundation, but the Church of Scientology is FWFD’s biggest donor and many of the program’s founders are self-declared Scientologists.Even though the seminars have not directly promoted Scientology, there does seem to be some implicit bias in the presentations. Even without the potential separation of church-and-state problem, many have suggested that the Church is using this program to impose its agenda onto public schools. In a news article published by the Hollywood Reporter, Tony Ortega, a noted critic of the church of Scientology, voiced his skepticism about the facts presented in the pamphlets and the seminars.“You have to ask yourself, what is their real purpose?” Ortega wrote. “This is an organization with some very odd ideas about pharmaceuticals, medicine and mental health.”Students received multiple pamphlets about various drugs and alcohol, warning about the dangers and consequences of abuse. Inside the pamphlets, there are statistics and stories, as well as disturbing pictures of the results of using such drugs. One pamphlet about the effects of cocaine use states that “coming down from the drug causes a depression so severe that the person will do almost anything to get the drug--even commit murder.”While experiencing depression when coming down from a cocaine high is undoubtedly common, to suggest that a depression so severe that one would do anything–including murder–is guaranteed with cocaine use is patently untrue and unverified. The pamphlets do not provide any citation. This and other facts were debunked by an investigation by the California Department of Education in 2005. Information like this that was also found in the literature for Narcanon, another Scientology-based anti-drug program.According to the Samo drug-awareness assembly attendees, another notable concern about the presentations is the blatant omission of warning against the use of tobacco and nicotine products, statistically one of the biggest drug-related issues on Samo’s campus.The administration is doing everything to keep the drug use of Samo students at a minimum by teaching them the consequences and repercussions of dangerous substances. The most important thing to Shelton is that Samo finds something that works, something that is new for the community. Administration hopes to continue these seminars without The FWFD running it. Shelton wants to the student body and Samo community to talk more about drug use in hopes of preventing it.Both FWFD and the school’s previous drug program, Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE), have strong messages to live a substance-free life and stay away from drugs altogether. Shelton, believes that telling students point blank to stay away from drugs is ineffective.“We try to do what’s best to help kids understand,” Shelton said. “We’re not telling kids don’t do something, but we would like them to be informed.”