Geneva meeting on goals of Mentor program
One of the most important events of the past week was the board meeting in Geneva of the Mentor Foundation that brought together personalities from various countries with department heads from Colombia, Germany, Britain, Sweden, the US, Switzerland and Lithuania. Queen Sylvia of Sweden, Mentor’s founder and president, chaired the meeting of board members Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Prince Turki Bin Talal Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Baroness von Blixen-Finecke, Mentor’s general director Olof Stenhammar, its executive director Jeff Lee, and from Greece, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Marianna Vardinoyianni, who suggested founding a branch in Greece. According to data collected by Mentor from official sources and organizations, drug use has been spreading around the world. For example, over 200 million people used drugs at some time over the past year. The World Health Organization estimates that 200,000 people died from drug-related causes in 2000. In some European Union member states, about one-third of children aged 15 and 16 have tried cannabis at least once. One in four industrial accidents around the world are attributed to drugs or alcohol consumption. The Mentor Foundation is an international, non-governmental organization aimed at preventing drug abuse and works with the World Health Organization and the UN’s Narcotics and Crime Bureau, among other groups. Its slogan is «Prevention-Opportunity-Protection.» It is supported and funded by private initiative.
