Be Drug-free - a look at the origins of National Red Ribbon Week

NO to drugs

The war on drugs may seem like a lost battle to some, but one anti-drug campaign is still encouraging children to join the fight nearly 30 years later.

And National Red Ribbon Week — which blossomed after the cold-blooded murder of a DEA agent in 1985 — is influencing up to 80 million people in the United States each year.

The campaign, sponsored by the National Family Partnership, includes activities and events in schools across the country until next Friday to help children learn about all the negative effects of recreational drug use.

“It’s a frightening thing to think about the increase of drug use in America and not being concerned about it is a terribly naive position to take,” Peggy B. Sapp, president of the NFP, told the Daily News.

 

“It’s easier to prevent (drug use) than to rehabilitate.”

Drug use among adolescents remains a critical issue and statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse showing things like MDMA (or Molly), marijuana, cough syrup and K2(or Spice) were some of the most popular drugs.

Sapp said the NFP began the campaign by flooding the streets of Miami with 20,000 ribbons to raise awareness on the violence caused by drugs in 1986 — one year after the murder of DEA Agent Enrique (Kiki) Camerena in Mexico.

Three years later, the NFP sponsored its first annual National Red Ribbon Week.

In 2015, Red Ribbon Week claims to be the oldest and largest drug prevention program in the country — making a bigger impact than other popular campaigns like D.A.R.E., or Drug Abuse Resistance Education.

According to Sapp, Red Ribbon Week spreads awareness to nearly every school in the United States with nearly 90,000 participants.

The National Family Partnership asks for donations that range between $25 to $5,000 — along with minimal fees for ordering Red Ribbon materials to help their cause.