Red Ribbon Week

Last week we celebrated Red Ribbon Week with a variety of activities to reinforce the importance of staying drug free! We showed we were too cool to do drugs by wearing sunglasses; we wore fatigues and fought off drugs; we wore CRAZY hats to show we were not CRAZY enough to do drugs! Students were invited and encouraged to sign a bulletin board outside our counselor’s office pledging to say NO to drugs. We wore red and even ate red things (apples, strawberries, etc…)!

I wish I could say spending one week a year reminding our children to say NO to drugs and alcohol would be enough to ensure their safety and well-being – but it’s not. Here are some shocking statistics regarding drug and alcohol use among teenagers:

• One out of every five 8th graders report that they have tried marijuana.
• 63 percent of the youth who drink alcohol say that they initially got the alcohol from their own or their friend’s homes.
• Alcohol kills 6 ½ times more teenagers than all other illicit drugs combined.
• Teens that drink are 50 times more likely to use cocaine than teens who never consume alcohol.
• Teenagers whose parents talk to them on a regular basis about the dangers of drug use are 42 percent less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t.

Parents and families face one of the most difficult battles in today’s society – that of raising drug free children. One of the most powerful tools we have and can use to help in keeping our kids off drugs is communication. Yet for some reason, it is the most feared, and is seldom used. We must be brave! We must be brave and talk to our children from an early age and on a regular basis about the dangers of drugs. Most importantly we must be active participants in their lives.

We as parents and educators must set the tone, set the standards, and set the community norm. Together we can change the face of drug addiction in our communities.

Information cited from http://teendrugabuse.us/teen_drug_use.html

Proud to be drug free!

Deborah Guardia, Principal