Starting today, LZHS will observe a national drug awareness campaign known as Red Ribbon Week.
The week-long event, which goes from October 21-October 25, will focus on “the importance of living a drug free life,” according to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s website. At LZHS, Red Ribbon Week will be observed through dress up days.
The dress-up days are: “Rally in Red to Be Drug Free” on Monday, where students wear red; “Too Bright for Drugs” seeing students wear neon on Tuesday; “Wake up and be Drug Free” on Wednesday, in which wear pajamas to school; the sportswear themed “Teaming Up Against Drugs” day on Thursday; and, finally, “Show School Pride in Being Drug Free”, where students wear school colors.
Besides LZHS, other organizations in the Lake Zurich Community that participate in Red Ribbon Week are the Ela Coalition Against Youth Substance Abuse, which collaborates with District 95 to set up a poster contest.
“We are excited for the opportunity to join forces as a community and support positive, healthy messages that will keep our kids healthy and safe,” according to a news detail from LZHS. “We encourage you, as members of our community, to support Red Ribbon Week by displaying red ribbons at home and talking to your child about making healthy choices.”
The event, which is observed by over 600 schools nationwide according to Redribbon.org, was first established in 1988 by the National Family Partnership (NFP), an organization then chaired by Nancy Reagan, in honor of Enrique Camarena, a DEA agent that was killed in 1985.
The environment from which programs like Red Ribbon Week, such as DARE, originated from was the War On Drugs, which was a government led cultural movement to rid society from the influence of drugs through not only legislation, but also the establishment of organizations such as Red Ribbon to spread awareness.
While the effects of the War on Drugs still persists today, many critics label the War on Drugs as not only fiscally wasteful, but also the reason for mass-incarceration and discrimination.
In addition, these critics point to programs like DARE and Red Ribbon as, despite having noble intentions, being ineffective in their “just say no” messaging, and cite statistics of drug abuse in the US among youth remaining largely the same.
