Contact: Don Feder, 508-405-1337, dfeder@rcn.com; Lisa Youngblood, 815-964-5819, lisa@worldcongress.org; both with World Congress of Families 

MEDIA ADVISORY, Sept. 7 /Christian Newswire/ -- The World Congress of Families -- with affiliates on five continents and members in 65 nations -- warned of the dangers to children and families of California's Proposition 19 on the November ballot, which legalizes marijuana in the state.

WCF Managing Director Larry Jacobs noted: "In the past 40 years, liberal social experiments have taken a devastating toll on families and children.  Now, the same radicals who brought us no-fault divorce in the early 1970s are pushing drug legalization."

Jacobs continued: "You don't have to be an expert in the field to know that drugs hurt children, destroy families and ruin lives.  It is axiomatic that legalization leads to easier access to marijuana, which in turn leads to greater drug use."

World Congress of Families V was held in Amsterdam in August 2009.  From 1984 to 1996, the Dutch liberalized their laws regarding possession and use of cannabis products.  As a result, marijuana use for young people (18-20 years of age) jumped from 15% in 1984 to 44% in 1986.

"Only the mothers and fathers who've seen their children's lives destroyed by drugs -- who've seen once promising futures literally go up in smoke -- can understand the impact of drugs on families.  Those who use marijuana as adolescents are far more likely to graduate to heroin and cocaine," Jacobs commented.

The World Congress of Families is proud to stand with groups like the Drug Free America Foundation, the League of California Cities, the Association of California School Administrators, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the California Police Chiefs' Association and Save Our Society from Drugs in opposing Proposition 19.

In 2004, Drug Free America Foundation Executive Director Calvina Fay spoke on "Drug Legalization In The New Millennium" at World Congress of Families III.  Her speech may be accessed online at www.worldcongress.org/wcf3_spkrs/wcf3_fay.htm.

Dr. John Howard is the founder of the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society, parent organization of WCF.  Dr. Howard was a member of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (1971-73), the first Presidential Commission to consider the problem. His paper, "Legalized Marijuana: A Pending Disaster," is available online at www.profam.org/docs/jah/thc.jah.marijuana.htm.

For more about World Congress of Families, go to www.worldcongress.org .  To schedule an interview with Larry Jacobs, contact Don Feder at 508-405-1337 or dfeder@rcn.com.

The World Congress of Families (WCF) is an international network of pro-family organizations, scholars, leaders and people of goodwill from more than 60  countries that seek to restore the natural family as the fundamental social unit and the 'seedbed' of civil society (as found in the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, (1948).  The WCF was founded in 1997 by Allan Carlson and is a project of The Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society in Rockford, Illinois (www.profam.org).  To date, there have been five World Congresses of Families -- Prague (1997), Geneva (1999), Mexico City (2004), Warsaw, Poland (2007) and Amsterdam, Netherlands (2009).  For more information, visit our website: www.worldcongress.org.