RIBBONS, RIBBONS, EVERYWHERE

The Use Of Drugs Is Especially Discouraged During National Red Ribbon Week

According to a nationwide survey by the United States Department of
Health, 90 percent of 12th graders surveyed said that marijuana was
"very easy" or "fairly easy" to get; more than 47percent said cocaine
was "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get; and more than 32percent said
that heroin was "very easy" or "fairly easy" to get.

During the last week of October, the Socorro DWI Council asked youth
to be especially aware of the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse. The
council provided pledge cards to schools throughout the county asking
students to promise not to use drugs or alcohol.

The Student Council and Youth Leaders of Magdalena Schools presented
banners for village, county and city government officials to sign
pledging to work toward the goal of all the communities in Socorro
County becoming drug free.

Red ribbons were placed on light poles along U.S. 60 to remind
drivers not to use drugs or alcohol, especially while driving.

Students at Magdalena schools planted red tulips as a reminder to
everyone not to abuse drugs or alcohol.

New Mexico will hold a poster contest and an essay contest for
students throughout the state through each county's DWI affiliate.
San Antonio and Midway school students in kindergarten through fifth
grade will be participating. The theme this year is "New Mexico youth
making healthy choices."

There are three categories for the poster contest: kindergarten and
first grade, second and third grade, and fourth and fifth grade. Only
fifth-graders in Socorro will participate in the essay contest that
is open to fifth through 12th grades.

Sarah Hammack, a certified prevention specialist, said home schooled
students who wish to participate should call Denise Sawyer at the
Socorro County DWI Office, 575-838-0028, for information.

Winners from each school will participate in a county competition.
County winners will participate in the state contest. There will be
ribbons and plaques presented to the local winners.

The winners of the state competitions will present their winning
entries to the 2008 Legislature on DWI Awareness Day.

In 1985, the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth
joined with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and implemented
a Red Ribbon campaign that spread to places as far away as Europe.
The National Red Ribbon Week is celebrated every year October 23-31,
and is dedicated to Kiki Camarena and all of the people who have been
wrongly killed due to the violence of drugs.

Camarena joined the DEA in 1974. In 1985, in Guadalajara, Mexico, he
was grabbed by five men who shoved him into a beige Volkswagen. One
month later, his body was discovered in a shallow grave. Camarena and
his informant, Alfredo Zavala Avelar, had been savagely and grotesquely killed.