The young performers of the Church of Scientology's "Kids on Stage for a Better World" - ranging in ages from 4 to 18 - delivered their message about the destructive effects of drugs in song and dance to a receptive audience of 150 students at the Making the Right Connections (MTRC) at St. Cecilia School in South Los Angeles.

Following the show and a question-and-answer period between the children and the singers, the Kids on Stage distributed copies of the anti-drug booklet "The Truth About Drugs " published as a public service by the Foundation for a Drug-Free World.

Currently of major concern to the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services is the growing problem of methamphetamine - "meth" - a highly toxic, addictive and devastating drug that children as young as 12 years old were using. The California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs, the 2005-06 California Student Survey showed that 7 percent of California 11 th-graders had used meth. In 2003, 8 to 10 percent of Latino youth had tried meth, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

The state Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs also reported the number of meth-related admissions for drug treatment jumped from 7 percent in 1992 to 33 percent in 2004, and that in 2005, 80 percent of the 18- to 25-year-old Latino admissions listed meth as their primary drug.

The State also reported that female adolescent admissions were four times those of males, and that females become dependent faster and suffer more adverse effects sooner than the males. And the state noted that among 18 - 24 year olds, meth heightened the risk of drug users engaging in violence, having multiple sex partners and having unprotected sexual intercourse.

"Today's children will become tomorrow's civilization," Emma Rose, the Kids on Stage spokesperson said quoting Scientology's founder L. Ron Hubbard. "They need love and help to make it."

"It is our purpose through our performances to help them by showing that it is definitely possible to lead a happy and drug-free life," she said.

For more than 15 years, Scientology's Kids on Stage for a Better World has been tackling the problems of drugs use among young people by educating youth and adults on the devastating effects that drugs have on the body and on mind. Their best weapons in this campaign have been their songs, dancing and the pocket-size booklet "The Truth About Drugs." The free booklet provides factual data about drugs and their effects so that people will be able to make their own decision to live free of drugs.

Making the Right Connections (MTRC) is a Los Angeles-based program run in several Catholic Schools in Los Angeles that helps children and young people to make the correct decisions concerning drugs and thereby avoid a life of violence most often generated by drug abuse.

In the past 10 years, more than 18 million copies of "The Truth About Drugs" have been distributed in 56 countries. Information about the booklet is available from the Foundation for a Drug-Free World at www.drugfreeworld.org. Kids on Stage for a Better World may be contact at www.betterworldkids.com.