BEHIND THOSE RED RIBBONS

On Monday, Red Ribbon Week observations began across the nation to
focus students' attention on the dangers of drug abuse. The red
ribbon commemorates Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, a U.S. counternarcotics
agent who was kidnapped, tortured and bludgeoned to death in 1985
while working in northern Mexico.

The killing, and subsequent obstruction by Mexico's government,
marked a low point in U.S.-Mexican counternarcotics cooperation.
After two decades of mistrust over the affair, agents from the two
countries are finally working together again. Mexico has taken the
offensive against cartels, accelerating drug-lord extraditions and
cracking down on corruption.

But U.S. counternarcotics aid to Mexico is still stuck in the past.
Washington devotes less than $50 million annually to help Mexico
fight drugs, compared with the financial resources of a $13.8 billion
Mexican trafficking industry that supplies most of the cocaine,
heroin, methamphetamine and marijuana consumed in the United States.

It is time for Washington to commit a level of counternarcotics
cooperation equal to the task of fighting a cutthroat mafia. On
Monday, President Bush asked Congress to approve a $1.4 billion
program to help Mexico with intelligence-sharing, eradication and
police training. This investment is long overdue.

But that's only half the challenge. On this side of the border, we'd
like to see a similarly redoubled effort to reduce demand. It starts
by making our children understand the deadly stakes. Whatever message
they're getting at home and in the classroom, it isn't working.

The "cheese" heroin epidemic continues to spread across North Texas,
fueled by predatory trafficking strategies that target young people
with low-priced samples designed to get them hooked. The death toll
among North Texas youths now stands at 24.

During Monday morning's kickoff of Red Ribbon Week, one suburban
middle school class heard the story of Agent Camarena's hideous
death. Instead of taking that sobering tale to heart, some students
cracked jokes and giggled.

After 4,000 trafficking-related deaths since 2005, Mexico now
understands the lethal consequences of this battle. We can only hope
that North Texas students, teachers and parents equally will grasp
the seriousness before another youth falls victim.