Red Ribbon Week began as a way to honor Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent Kiki Camarena. His time in the DEA brought him to the front lines of the war on drugs in Mexico, where he worked with the Mexican Federal Police and Military. He spent ten years in Mexico, arresting drug cartel members and disrupting the cocaine and marijuana pipeline. In 1985, Camarena was close to exposing a multi-billion dollar marijuana and cocaine pipeline. He provided the insight that allowed over four hundred Mexican soldiers to find and destroy a plantation that was making more than eight billion dollars a year.
The Guadalajara drug cartels had a hunch that Camarena was the one who provided the information to the Mexican authorities. In February 1985, he was surrounded by five armed men and thrown into a car. He would be found dead over a month later on March 5. An autopsy revealed that Camarena was tortured for over thirty hours with his skull punctured and rib cage broken. An investigation was launched, and the perpetrators were caught. For his selfless service, Camarena received the Administrator’s Award of Honor, the highest award granted by DEA.
Shortly after his death, schools in and around his hometown of Calexico began to wear red ribbons in remembrance of Camarena and all those who worked to combat drugs. This movement would quickly expand across the United States.
Red Ribbon Week is the United States' largest and longest-running drug awareness and prevention campaign. The campaign's inception was perfectly timed, as Reagan’s administration was struggling in the mid-80s to create a nationwide drug awareness program. The program was made official in 1988 with the first nationwide Red Ribbon Week organized by the National Family Partnership, with the support of Congress, and chaired by Nancy Reagan.
Red Ribbon Week is a period that SADD chapters everywhere observe. Here are some ideas on how you and your chapter can get mobilized for this week, even if you haven't planned anything yet!
Check out the SADD + CODA/the harris project toolkit at sadd.org/programs. There's a full week of activities you can do in school or the community. Do one or do them all!
Try something from the ERAS toolkit, which has a legend to identify activities focused on substance prevention.
Take a peek at the Song for Charlie toolkit and consider hosting a fun event where you'll compete in a Kahoot! challenge and test your knowledge about fake pills and fentanyl.
Turn the community RED by partnering with local businesses to host signage/ribbons from the club with messaging about staying drug-free. Turn this into a fundraiser by asking businesses to sell ribbons that can be put up around the community with sponsors' names or signatures.
The National Family Partnership’s website also provides ideas on how local chapters can celebrate Red Ribbon Week and raise awareness of drug misuse. This year’s Red Ribbon Week theme is “Life is a Movie. Film drug-free.” You could even enter their PSA or photo challenge that allows you to win an iPad and a thousand dollars for your school.
We ask you to join millions of Americans between October 23 and 31st to raise awareness on the dangers of drug misuse and to honor those who work to combat drugs.