Church Aid Asked in Drug War : Religious Leaders Urged by Sheriff to Take Active Role

Stressing the importance of support from the religious community in winning the war on drugs, Orange County Sheriff Brad Gates asked an audience of about 75 religious leaders Wednesday to devote one sermon a month to drug awareness.

During his 45-minute address at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, Gates told the audience that more than 400 cocaine- and heroin-related deaths had occurred in the county over the period between January, 1987, and May 1989.

“Seventy percent of the people who have died of these deaths were between the ages of 25 and 35,” said Gates. “These are parents of young children who see drug use happening in their home every night. We have got to start making an impact on this war for the sake of the young.”

He mentioned several cocaine-related incidents, including one involving a 28-year-old Orange homemaker who died in her home from a cocaine overdose, leaving her 2-year-old child unattended in the house for two days before neighbors became suspicious.

Gates also emphasized that the Sheriff’s Department’s increased efforts to deter drug use had resulted in the confiscation of more than 40 million doses of cocaine and more than $43 million in drug trafficking cash.

The Drug Abuse Is Life Abuse support group was founded by the Sheriff’s Advisory Board in December of 1988 and exists as a full-time entity working to coordinate drug use prevention and awareness programs throughout the community.

With a portion of the $43 million taken from drug dealers and private donations, Drug Abuse Is Life Abuse, which includes the participation of high school students from more than 80% of the county’s high schools, purchased materials to print decals and stickers that display the group’s theme.

Along with one sermon a month, Gates also asked the audience to use the group’s logo on stationery and newsletters and asked that bumper stickers be placed on all vehicles of religious leaders.

“I like to see a church parking lot filled with nothing but stickers with this message on it,” Gates said. “We need to start realizing that the average drug addict isn’t a long-haired hippie but people like you and me.”

“They (religious leaders) reach thousands of people every Sunday,” said Spencer Geissinger, executive director of Drug Abuse Is Life Abuse. “So we felt that having the sheriff address persons from all sectors of the religious world would help the process of getting our message out to the people.”