Red Ribbon Week

The end of October brings more than just fall colors and trick-or-treating. October 21-29 is National Red Ribbon Week! It's a time when people like you pledge to stay drug free and join the fight against drug use. Check out the fun ways that you can participate. Get your family, friends, and neighbors involved in the fight against drugs.

It's a week when people across the country promise to stay drug free and fight drug use by wearing red ribbons, T-shirts, stickers-anything red!

A young man named Enrique "Kikki" Camarena wanted to stop drug use. He became a Federal agent for the Drug Enforcement Administration. Sadly, he was killed while working to keep drugs out of our communities. Kikki's friends and family wore badges of red satin to remember him and as a symbol of their promise to keep up the fight against drugs. Today, more than 80 million people across the county wear red during National Red Ribbon Week to show their support for a healthy, drug-free lifestyle.

1. Sign a pledge card! Click here to download a whole page of cards to share with your family and friends.
2. Tie red ribbons around trees, flagpoles, or mailboxes in your community. Be sure to get permission from city officials or owners.
3. Weave plastic red ribbon or crepe paper through chain link fences.
4. Make posters about staying drug free and ask your school and local businesses to display them. Make an extra-cool poster for your own front door.
5. Plan a red meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve red foods like watermelon, tomato juice, and apples. Ask an adult to help you dye foods red with food coloring.
6. Decorate every door in your school or neighborhood with messages that promote a drug-free lifestyle.
7. Hold a "Sock It To Drugs Day" and ask everyone to wear the craziest socks they can find.
8. Go national! Invite all your friends and neighbors to sign their names on red ribbons. Then send them to your Congressperson in Washington, DC. To find out who your representative is, click here for the House of Representatives or here for the Senate.
9. Plant something red, like tulips, and remember your pledge to be drug free when they bloom in the spring.
10. Get a large roll of paper and write at the top, "Red Ribbon Week Pledge Banner--I promise to live a drug-free life." Tape the paper to a popular hallway wall in your school and have teachers and students sign as they pass by.

Can you think of other ways to show the world that you're drug-free and encourage others to join you? Do it!

Kikki Camarena was one person who chose to make a difference by fighting drug use. Today, over 80 million people have joined his battle. What kind of difference are YOU going to make?