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Major Maureen Ashton campaigns against K2 drug in New Zealand.
When two young people from Major Maureen Ashton’s Central Taranaki (New Zealand) Corps were arrested in the same week as a result of addiction to a synthetic cannabinoid known as K2, Ashton mounted a campaign against the hallucinogenic.
Although legal and available at a local dairy for $20, Ashton felt the drug was immoral and detrimental. She held a public forum to determine the level of community concern.
The local police youth aid officer, health workers and Salvationists from the Taranaki Corps formed a group, appointing a communications representative to start a media campaign. Newspapers printed articles and photos, petitions circulated, posters appeared urging stores not to sell the drug, and Ashton spoke to youth counselors.
“I wondered why God called me to fight against this stuff in one dairy in a tiny town in Taranaki,” Ashton said. “But maybe he wants to open all our eyes to what may lie ahead if we do not stand up and say ‘no!’ now, while we still can.”
Join the Facebook page SCARS-Stratford-Citizens-Against-Retailing-of-Synthetic-Cannabinoids.
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