Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics: Foundation for a Drug-Free World Launches Major Drug Prevention Campaign Amid Athlete Arrest

MILAN, Feb. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics officially opened at San Siro Stadium in Milano on February 6, 2026. Just 15 days earlier, the FBI arrested one of its Ten Most Wanted Fugitives: Ryan Wedding.

Wedding, a Canadian snowboarder, competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics, finishing 24th in the men's parallel giant slalom. After finishing in 24th place, he left the mountain snow for another kind of snow—cocaine. For more than a decade, Wedding oversaw the shipment of about 60 metric tons of cocaine each year into the United States and Canada—fueling addiction and destroying lives.

But Wedding is just one of many drug lords who continue to flood society with drugs. This shatters communities and puts young people directly in harm's way.

"According to a Reuters report, 39 percent of Italians aged 15 to 19 have tried drugs at least once," says Jessica Hochman, Executive Director of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World. "Drug kingpins don't succeed on their own. Every first use helps keep this industry alive. Prevention is how we stop it."

"When young people know what drugs actually do to their bodies, curiosity disappears," Hochman adds. "You wouldn't drink drain cleaner just because someone offered it. So why smoke crystal meth? Education makes the danger obvious."

Since January, Drug-Free World volunteers have distributed Truth About Drugs booklets to the community, including shop owners, students and Olympic torchbearers in preparation for the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics. Volunteers have taken to the streets of Milano, Bergamo, Monza, Novara, Pordenone, Vicenza, Padua, Verona, Sardinia, Modena, Como and Florence with a single message: know the facts, make informed choices.

On the day of the opening ceremony, 90 volunteers rallied across Italy to distribute more than 100,000 booklets in a single day. "A woman and a man in the metro were impressed by the work we were doing. They decided to take some booklets for their grandchildren," says one volunteer. "In one chocolate shop, all employees took a booklet," explains another. "Several policemen from the Carabinieri congratulated us and took booklets as well."

With more than 350,000 Truth About Drugs booklets distributed and counting, this is just the beginning. Like an Olympic torch relay, Drug-Free World volunteers will continue carrying the message across Italy and reaching youth before dealers do.

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is the largest nongovernmental drug education and prevention organization. Through a worldwide network of volunteers, millions of drug prevention booklets and educational materials have been distributed in over 180 countries. Thanks to the support of the Church of Scientology, these materials are made available free of charge to anyone wishing to take action to address the drug issue that affects everyone. For more information, visit www.drugfreeworld.org.

SOURCE Foundation for a Drug-Free World