I'm the Red Ribbon Week coordinator for an elementary school and do it because I've seen children exposed and addicted to drugs and alcohol. A sixth grade parent once expressed concern about our efforts at education actually introducing her son to something which he had no awareness. My response was, and is, that he probably knows more about drugs and alcohol that she thinks!
So last week I was proud when my son brought me the 2006 Kids Fight Drugs Calendar because two of our school's students had their artwork honored. If you are in Santa Barbara County and want to order either the South or North County calendar, write to [email protected].
So now on to some data.... Our local paper, the Santa Barbara Newspress, had a front page article on a report released by Santa Barbara Fighting Back titled, "Local youths' drug abuse "shocking"". The article reported that one-quarter of our adolescents are using alcohol, pot or other substances. It also reported that 7% of seventh-graders said they either binge-drink or smoke marijuana at least three days a month, or drink or smoke pot on campus -- and this exhibits that they are in need of treatment or intervention.
So, my advice is to talk to your children and see what they do know about drugs, alcohol and tobacco and teach your children to make healthy choices! You could save their life!
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