As part of a major effort to combat the spread of illicit drugs, Seventh-day Adventists in Magangué, Bolivar, a town of 100,000 off the coast of Colombia, joined the local government in an active education campaign.  A major weapon in the fight is a public education program about the dangers of drug use.

The 2005 World Drug Report, compiled by the United Nations, lists Colombia as one of the leading producers of the coca plant, which is used to make the lethal drug cocaine. Hoping to understand the impact on the local population, government officials recently sent out a survey to residents and found that 37 percent of young people say they have had “some kind of contact” with marijuana, and 29 percent with cocaine, according to Dr. Cesar Villoria, the town’s health director.

The town is partnering with the Adventist Church in Magangué to lead the local government’s Commission on Drug Prevention, AIDS and other Public Health Problems.

This partnership was reinforced when church youth led a march of 1,500 people against drugs through the town’s main streets Sept. 4. The group, which included church members and locals from the community, handed out 2,300 pamphlets on the dangers of drug abuse.

The march was a first for the church, but after the positive response, it will become an annual event, according to Pastor Abraham Guerrero Romero, Sabbath School/Personal Ministries and Evangelism director for the church in the Sabanas’ Zone. The church is also leading an education campaign in local high schools.

“Our church members in Magangué are starting to feel the needs of our society as their own problems,” says Romero. “That is the key to successful evangelism because Jesus does the same. If we want to reach the world, we should feel their problems, and give them a response in Jesus’ name. Then, we should invite them to follow Jesus.”