Drug-Free South Treats Kids to Truth

Halloween this year was filled with candy, costumes and more. But just before the holiday, during a celebration event in the Edgehill neighborhood, kids were treated to more than just games and sweets. Drug-Free South came out to bring truth to young people and help prevent the worst kind of addiction.

Halloween falls on the last day of Red Ribbon Week, the last week of October each year which is also the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country. This is the best time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse.

The Red Ribbon Campaign commemorates DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who died in the line of duty in 1985. Since that time, people display red ribbons as a sign of solidarity and intolerance toward the use of drugs.

Drug-Free South organizers participated in the Edgehill event on October 30^th, distributing materials to youth and encouraging health and safety during the holiday.

Drug-Free South began honoring Red Ribbon Week in Tennessee in 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. Drug-Free South has provided seminars to students in over thirty counties in Tennessee.

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.