ANTI-DRUG MESSAGE IN RED TULIPS

Bulb Planting Tuesday Helps Spread Awareness

A new weapon has been added to the arsenal of the war against drugs: the
red tulip.

The National Family Partnership is striving to make the spring flower just
one more symbol of its anti-drug message, just one more reminder to kids of
the dangers of drug abuse and the commitment of families and communities to
keep young people drug-free.

The organization is encouraging families, schools, businesses and
organizations across the United States to plant red tulip bulbs Tuesday,
which has been designated National Plant the Promise Day.

The observance will mark the start of Red Ribbon Week, an annual drug-
awareness celebration, and will support the week's theme of "Plant the
Promise to Keep Kids Drug-Free," says Molly Osendorf, the organization's
Red Ribbon coordinator.

Planting tulips has a dual purpose, she says. The activity gives teachers
and parents an opportunity to talk to youngsters now, and the tulips will
remind them of that message when they bloom in April during National
Alcohol Awareness Month.

Although the tulip program blossomed too late for Ohio Parents for Drug
Free Youth to include planting activities in its Red Ribbon Week plans for
the state, executive director Patricia Harmon thinks it would be a great
family or community project. In fact, Ohio first lady Hope Taft has been
pushing the idea, she says, and the organization gave red tulip bulbs as a
reward for some community service efforts during Make a Difference Day last
year.

The whole point behind the red tulips -- and Red Ribbon Week in general --
is to remind kids again and again of a community's commitment to fight
illegal drug use, Osendorf explains. The more times a child sees a red
ribbon or a red tulip, she says, the more likely that child is to retain
the message.

Red Ribbon Week was started in 1986 in Calexico, Calif., to honor drug
enforcement agent Enrique Camarena. He had been investigating a Mexican
drug cartel and was kidnapped, tortured and killed days before he was to
identify its kingpins. The red ribbon has come to symbolize drug, alcohol
and tobacco prevention.

Earlier this year the National Family Partnership sold packets of red tulip
bulbs through online retailer Tulip World, which donated 10 percent of the
proceeds to the organization. Although it's too late to order bulbs through
that program, Osendorf encourages anyone who wishes to participate to buy
tulip bulbs from any garden center or other source.

The National Family Partnership has educational materials that support the
tulip-planting program. Teachers may request a lesson plan of activities
that reinforce the anti-drug message, and the organization also has a
parent-child package that includes tips on talking to kids about drugs. The
materials may be requested by calling April Marcus at the organization's
headquarters, 1-800-705-8997.