Red Ribbon Week to be observed from Oct. 23 through Oct. 31

HAMILTON — The nation’s largest and longest-running drug-use prevention campaign, Red Ribbon Week, begins on Thursday, Oct. 23, and runs through Friday, Oct. 31. This year’s theme is “Life Is A Puzzle, Solve It Drug Free.”
Red Ribbon Week raises awareness of drug use and the problems related to drugs facing communities and families, and encourages parents, educators, business owners, citizens and community organizations to promote drug-free lifestyles.
The City of Hamilton committed $3,000 toward the support of the program and publicity materials for schools and the community during their Monday, Oct. 6, city council meeting.
Hamilton Mayor Bob Page noted the $3,000 would come from the Opioid Settlement funds previously awarded to the city to be used for the purposes of showing support for drug prevention education and drug prevention activities throughout the city.
He later stated, “I’m excited the Red Ribbon Week program has caught fire and so many people want to participate and the awareness it brings to the problems, which also amounts to some solutions for people.
“I think it’s a good thing. The city has participated the last two years with some monies from the opioid funds, which were somewhat intended for rehab and education. We’re proud to be a part of that.
“Jeannye Palmer, our municipal court clerk and magistrate, has gone above and beyond in her efforts with this program. She’s pushed it to the schools, and the teachers have helped us a lot with this.”
Palmer said Hamilton’s Red Ribbon Week Committee is helping to promote the campaign in the elementary, middle and high schools during the school week.
“Research shows children are less likely to use alcohol and other drugs when parents and other role models are clear and consistent in their opposition to drug use and the misuse of prescription drugs,” she said.
“We also invite everyone to come by our Red Ribbon Week Booth at the Buttahatchee River Fall Fest on Saturday, Oct. 25, to sign a pledge to ‘Say No To Drugs’ and be drug-free.”
 
Red Ribbon
beginnings
According to RedRibbon.org, Enrique “Kiki” Camarena was a drug enforcement administration agent who was tortured and killed in Mexico in 1985. When he decided to join the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, his mother tried to talk him out of it. "I'm only one person," he told her, "but I want to make a difference."
On Feb. 7, 1985, the 37-year-old Camarena left his office to meet his wife for lunch. Five men appeared at the agent's side and shoved him in a car. One month later, Camarena's body was found. He had been tortured to death.
In honor of Camarena's memory and his battle against illegal drugs, friends and neighbors began to wear red badges of satin. Parents, sick of the destruction of alcohol and other drugs, had begun forming coalitions. Some of these new coalitions took Camarena as their model and embraced his belief that one person can make a difference. These coalitions also adopted the symbol of Camarena's memory, the red ribbon.