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TAYLORSVILLE — How do you reach young kids when it comes to talking about sensitive topics like pornography and the harmful effects of watching it? Crusaders at a Utah-based nonprofit group believe they have the answer.
Fight the New Drug was co-founded by Clay Olsen with the goal of educating teenagers about the harmful effects a pornography addiction can have on their lives and on society as a whole.
“Back in college, a group of friends and myself, we were just kind of recognizing how big of an issue this was,” Olsen said, “and that nobody was really talking about it in a way that related with teens.”
Now the CEO and his youthful staff at Fight the New Drug are spreading the message to junior high and high school students.
“We’ve done over 300 assemblies throughout the United States,” Olsen said.
The group relies on science, facts and personal experiences to help teens change their attitudes about pornography.
“We want kids to know that pornography is harmful, not only to themselves, but to their relationships and to society,” Olsen said.
Porn addiction does not discriminate, he said. In fact, he’s seen children as young as 8 years old fighting the addiction
We want kids to know that pornography is harmful, not only to themselves, but to their relationships and to society.
–Clay Olsen, Fight the New Drug
“That might be shocking to (people) that a young girl, at that age, could be exposed to (pornography),” Olsen said. “Not only had she been exposed to it, she’d been exposed to a point where she thought she had a problem with it — to the point where she was so overcome with the message that she came up and said thank you.”
With each school assembly, Olsen’s group is watching how teenagers’ attitudes toward pornography are changing. Among the groups that they've talked to, Olsen said he's seen a 73 percent reduction in teens watching pornography.
The awareness in what pornography does to the brain and personal relationships has increased, he said.
The group’s latest presentation was for a group of Granite School District parents Tuesday evening at Taylorsville High School. Team members shared tools and tips for talking to kids about pornography.
For more information on Fight the New Drug, as well as tools you can use to teach your children about the dangers of pornography, visit www.fightthenewdrug.org.
