Pubdate: Sun, 07 Dec 2008
Source: Las Cruces Sun-News (NM)
Copyright: 2008 Las Cruces Sun-News
Contact:  http://www.lcsun-news.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/674
Author: Ashley Meeks
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?135 (Drug Education)

MAYOR ABANDONS ANTI-DRUG PROGRAM AFFILIATED WITH CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY

LAS CRUCES -- The city is immediately ending an anti-drug program 
aimed at third-graders after it was revealed it was created and 
bankrolled by the Church of Scientology.

The "Drug-Free Marshal" program, started in late November, had only 
been presented to five schools but was intended to be promoted 
eventually among all third-graders in the Las Cruces Public Schools.

Mayor Ken Miyagishima apologized Saturday and said it was not his 
intention to promote the religion. The mayor said he was approached 
this summer by Richard Henley, of Foundation for a Drug-Free World, 
who showed him a pamphlet adorned with the seals of El Paso, 
Espanola, the Rio Arriba County Sheriff's Department and the Horizon 
City, Texas, and Socorro, Texas, Police Departments and asked if the 
city would "support eradicating drug use in the community."

In small type at the bottom, the pamphlet is copyrighted by 
Foundation for a Drug-Free World, Narconon and Association for Better 
Living and Education, all Scientology programs.

"It's my fault for not checking it out," Miyagishima said. "This is 
something that I have to put an end to, this portion of it, since it 
was brought up to me."

Since all the material was free, Miyagishima said he asked about the 
funding. He said Henley told him it was donated by a private 
individual who was interested in eradicating drug use.

"He gave me a couple of names, but not (founder and science fiction 
author) L. Ron Hubbard," Miyagishima said.

Most of the literature deals with illegal drugs, but one pamphlet 
specifically focuses on Ritalin, considered by Scientologists to be a 
harmful and "mind-altering psychiatric drug." According to 
Scientology.org, "psychiatry is not a science." Henley said Saturday 
the church was only one backer and that the material did not have a 
religious message, comparing it to the multi-faith origins of United Way.

"There is no religious message in any of the materials and the only 
message of Mr. Hubbard is in connection with the discovery of the 
toxins," Henley said, also describing the foundation as "secular."

When asked if he told Miyagishima about the connection with the 
Church of Scientology, Henley said "it's all in the videos on the Web 
sites that they acknowledge (the connection between the pamphlet and 
the church)."

Henley also declined to say if the materials had been provided to 
other New Mexico schools, saying the requests had come from 
"individual teachers or classes ... for two or three years."

As for the foundation's message against psychiatric medication, 
Henley said such prescriptions were up to a "medical doctor" or 
"medical physician," terms used in Scientology to distance such 
doctors from psychology and psychiatry. But he was clear about what 
he said was the danger of such prescriptions.

"Every single one of the shooters in the schools have been on one 
form or another of these psycho-pharmaceutical drugs," he said, 
though Scientology is opposed to far more than these drugs. According 
to the Scientology handbook, even aspirin will make someone 
"unfeeling, insensitive, unable and definitely not trustworthy, a 
menace to his fellows actually."

The "Marshal" program was one part of Miyagishima's "5-2-1-0" fitness 
initiative, which also encouraged children to eat five servings of 
fruit and vegetables, spend no more than two hours watching TV, get 
an hour of exercise a day, and not to drink sodas -- aspects which 
have recently been praised by U.S. Sen. Jeff Bingaman, Sen.-elect Tom 
Udall and the New Mexico Department of Health.

Only the "Marshal" program is affiliated with Scientology.

"I'm going to have to pull the marshal's badge (program)," 
Miyagishima said. "First off, I'm not happy that I wasn't fully 
informed, obviously, and two, that's something there that I can't be 
- -- the city can't be seen as promoting any type of religious activity."

LCPS Superintendent Stan Rounds said the mayor's decision Saturday 
was a good solution to a common problem. As superintendent in Des 
Moines, N.M., Rounds said his staff was given boxes of materials on 
math that also contained messages about "the godliness of study" and 
other evangelical themes. "We had to black all of that out so we 
could use the materials," Rounds said.

Miyagishima said he would give out Las Cruces Police Department 
sticker badges at future events and that anyone with a 
Scientology-provided badge could trade it in.

"I don't want to lose any momentum with this program," Miyagishima said.

As for the Scientology material, Rounds called it "regrettable, but I 
think the mayor's planned direction is the right one. Our message to 
kids is not to use illicit drugs."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom