Drug-Free Tennessee Reminds Youth to Stay Healthy this Holiday Season

Drug-Free Tennessee recently participated in community events to remind young people to be safe and healthy by distributing the Truth About Drugs booklets.

Drug-Free Tennessee is committed to making neighborhoods drug and crime-free. So it was that volunteers joined community partners, neighbors and police for local neighborhood health fairs and community events recently to remind kids to make good choices.

The final week of October is Red Ribbon Week. “Red Ribbon Week is the oldest and largest drug prevention campaign in the country,” according to imdrugfree.com. This is the best time to educate young people and help prevent drug abuse. The Red Ribbon Campaign was started to commemorate DEA agent Kiki Camarena, who died in the line of duty 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 campaign is to present a unified and visible commitment towards the creation of a Drug-Free America, according to redribbon.org.

With Halloween falling during the same week, volunteers found several community events to participate in where they could help remind young people to make safe choices during the holiday.

Rev. Brian Fesler, regional coordinator for Drug-Free Tennessee, says, “Youth today make decisions about drugs at a younger age. We need to get them reliable information so they can make educated choices and lead healthier lives.”

Drug-Free Tennessee is the local chapter of the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, which provides booklets with information on how drugs affect the body and mind, what a dealer might say, and common street names to young people know how to avoid them. The materials are available free of charge, and can be obtained through drugfreeworld.org.

For more information on Drug-Free Tennessee or to order materials, visit drugfreetn.org.