Drug-Free South Wants You to Wear the Red Ribbon

To protect youth from the disastrous effects of abusing drugs, the Drug-Free South team is bringing the truth directly to students and the community in honor of Red Ribbon Week.

Red Ribbon Week begins today. This week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country, according to imdrugfree.com. Red Ribbon Week occurs during the last week of October each year and is a time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse.

Drug-Free South has participated in the campaign since 2009 by distributing copies of The Truth About Drugs booklets, which help young people understand what drugs are and how they affect the user, visiting school classrooms to deliver a seminar to students utilizing the documentary The Truth About Drugs: Real People, Real Stories, and getting the Drug-Free World public service announcements played on television.

This year, Drug-Free South volunteers have lined up a series of events to commemorate Red Ribbon Week. “Our volunteers will be all across Tennessee and will see thousands of people,” says Brian Fesler, regional coordinator for the Drug-Free South, “This is shaping up to be a fun, fast-paced week where we can really reach everyone and help them understand the truth about drugs.”

Drug-Free South has provided seminars to students in over thirty counties in Tennessee, but Fesler says the group won’t stop until drugs are no longer an issue. “We are reaching young people before drugs become a problem in their lives,” he says

The Red Ribbon Campaign was started when drug traffickers in Mexico City murdered DEA agent Kiki Camarena in 1985. This began the continuing tradition of displaying Red Ribbons as a symbol of intolerance towards the use of drugs. The mission of the Red Ribbon Campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a Drug-Free America, according to redribbon.org.

Drug-Free South is the Tennessee chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, an international non-profit organization. Its materials demonstrate the dangers of drugs through factual information and interviews with former addicts giving personal perspectives on each of the substances covered.  For more information, visit drugfreesouth.org.