SEEKING FREEDOM FROM DRUGS THROUGH RELIGION

Mid-American Teen Challenge's fourth annual Strawberry Festival on Saturday offers not only a good opportunity to acquire plenty of fresh, home-grown strawberries but to see firsthand the remarkable program that is so successful in changing the lives of men addicted to drugs and, or alcohol.

The 9 a.m.-to-2 p.m. festival is designed to provide an opportunity for people to see the Teen Challenge program in action. Among activities during the festival are guided tours of the Teen Challenge training facility along County Road 621 approximately five miles north of Cape Girardeau.

The festival also includes tours of the strawberry fields, puppet shows for children, mini-concerts, drawings for free quarts of strawberries, and a free serving of strawberry shortcake. Barbecue lunches will be available for purchase along with strawberry baked goods, Teen Challenge craft items and strawberries by the quart.

Teen Challenge is celebrating its 25th year of operation throughout this year. It relies heavily on local donations and Teen Challenge activities such as the festival to raise operational funds. The festival will give contributors a chance to see how their money is being spent.

Teen Challenge was established here in 1969 as a religious training facility for men 17 and older with drug and alcohol problems, and during its 25 years has helped thousands of young men regain control of their lives. Currently, 108 men from across the country are in residence in the 10-month program.

The program involves a combination of Bible-related activities, work and in-depth practical counseling. A typical morning begins with intensive Bible classes followed in the afternoon by work activities that might include caring for the strawberry fields, working on the Teen Challenge cattle farm or mowing grass.

Its results are amazing:

-- In 1976, the Health, Education and Welfare Department released a study of individuals who had completed the Teen Challenge program in 1971, and found an 86 percent cure rate. The research director, Dr. Catherine Hess, pointed out that treatment for a drug addict in a detoxification facility results in just a 1 percent cure rate and the therapeutic treatment cure rate is about 10 percent.

-- And a former member of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse, Dr. John A. Howard, once said: "The Teen Challenge program is the best I know of to get a person off drugs. Of all the drug programs reported to the commission, the most successful is the religiously based program conducted by Teen Challenge."

With testimonials like those and others, it is obvious that the Teen Challenge program has hit upon something that other rehabilitation programs lack. We commend the program and congratulate Teen Challenge on its quarter-century anniversary. We hope those affiliated with the program see a large turnout for their Strawberry Festival.