Foundation for a Drug-Free World Launches Campaign for Brazil Olympics

Creating partnerships with civic and nonprofit organizations to bring the truth about drugs to the people of Brazil.

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Jul 28, 2016, 01:28 ET

SÃO PAOLO, July 28, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With the Olympics beginning August 5, the Foundation for a Drug-Free World has launched a drug prevention campaign to counter Brazil's drug epidemic. And they also plan to put out the drug-free message to the 10,500 Olympians and the estimated half million foreign tourists expected to arrive in the country for the games.

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The Foundation has translated their Truth About Drugs booklets into Brazilian Portuguese and are well on their way to distributing a million copies by the end of the games, with the first 144,000 already handed out in São Paolo.

In their signature turquoise T-shirts, the Foundation volunteers are making their presence known along with their drug-free message. They are not only activating teams of volunteers to distribute the booklets, they have also been placing sets of them in shops and enlisting taxi companies and Uber drivers to get them into the hands of their customers.

According to the United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS) on drugs in 2016, domestic drug consumption has increased in Brazil in recent years. The country borders the world's three largest cocaine producers, Bolivia, Peru and Colombia, and a 2012 survey by the University of São Paolo found Brazil to be second only to the United States in crack consumption.

"When people learn the truth about drugs, they are far less likely to abuse them," says Ambra Calzolari, International Drug-Free World Coordinator, in Brazil to carry out this initiative. "We have been meeting and forming partnerships with officials, civic and nonprofit groups, artists and other leaders and we intend to reach millions with the truth about drugs so they can make informed decisions to live drug-free."

The Foundation for a Drug-Free World is a nonprofit public benefit corporation that empowers youth and adults with factual information about drugs so they can make informed decisions to live drug-free.

Drug-Free World partners with civic and nongovernmental organizations including more than 1,200 police departments in the United States. Through its worldwide network of volunteers and partnerships, it has distributed 6.7 million copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets over the past year— more than 79 million copies since the booklets were first published in 2006.

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SOURCE Foundation for a Drug-Free World