SEEING RED TO REJECT DRUGS

NORTH HAMPTON - The cafeteria at North Hampton School was a sea of red
last week. Students sported red shirts, red pants, red hats, red
scarves, red ribbons, even streaks of temporary red hair dye.

Posters and red balloons decorated the stage where the jazz band and
chorus sat waiting for their turn to play. After the Pledge of
Allegiance, students sat cross-legged on the floor and all eyes turned
to the podium.

"There is a war going on amongst us, on our own soil, and it's the war
on drugs," said eighth-grader John Gorman, president of the student
council.

"Every single one of you has an important part to play in this," said
Gorman. "If anyone ever offers you drugs, think of your family and
friends, your hopes and dreams, and just say no."

The occasion for the colorful event and assembly on Friday morning was
to celebrate Red Ribbon Week, a national drug prevention program with
focus on individual communities.

Student counsel vice president Megan Lemire emphasized individual
effort and choice.

She told the story of a man picking up dying starfish from a beach and
throwing them back into the ocean so they could live. Another man saw
him and said there were so many dying starfish he could never make a
difference.

The man picked up another starfish and answered, "It makes a
difference to this one."

The event was organized by school counselor Deb Vasconcellos. Later
each homeroom would recognize the student who had worn the most red in
honor of the focus day.

Special guest speaker at the assembly was North Hampton Police Chief
Brian Page. He said every year he is happy to see more red in the audience.

Page told students the story of Enrique Camarena, a special agent in
the Drug Enforcement Agency who was murdered by drug traffickers in
Mexico in 1985.

Family and friends began to wear red ribbons to honor his memory and
soon it became a nationwide campaign through the National Family
Partnership to teach kids to avoid drugs through prevention and
education programs.

In the last week in October, wearing or decorating with red ribbons
shows a commitment to live drug-free.

Page said Camarena's son, then 11, still remembers the day his
father's casket arrived home and he wishes now that his own two
children could have known their grandfather.

Page said anyone who buys and uses drugs is supporting murderous drug
dealers, financially and morally; the kind of people who would kill
the father of three small children.

Page shared some nationwide statistics on drug use. The scariest, he
said, is that 48 percent of kids in ninth through 12th grade report
that they have used illegal drugs sometime in their life.

"The people in this room have to change that statistic," said Page. He
asked students to remember the lives lost and to pledge to remain drug-free.

After several songs by the jazz band and chorus, Vasconcellos thanked
those involved, including a group of service learning students who
made posters and placed them around school and town, and the younger
students who decorated bags that would be used at Joe's Meat Shoppe
that day.

The commitment to remain drug-free is part of a larger picture. "We
want to make decisions that keep us safe and healthy," said
Vasconcellos.

For information on Red Ribbon Week and nationwide celebration
activities, visit www.redribboncoalition.org.