"Plant The Promise" Event held in Sussex County, NJ in Honor of Red Ribbon Week
As a result of this partnership, the coalition supplied schools across the county with flower bulbs for students to plant. When the flowers bloom in the Spring, they will remind students of the importance of living a drug-free, healthy lifestyle.
In 1985, DEA agent Enrique Camarena and his pilot Captain Alfredo Zavala-Avelar were kidnapped, tortured, and later murdered by a Drug Trafficking Organization. Agent Camarena had been undercover for four years to expose a multimillion-dollar marijuana manufacturing operation in Chihuahua, Mexico. Upon further investigation, it was revealed that both Camarena and Zavala-Avelar had been tortured and buried before being moved just outside a ranch DEA agents raided following their investigations.
Citizens in Camarena's hometown of Calexico, California, donned red ribbons in his honor. The red ribbon became their symbol for prevention, to reduce the demand for illegal drugs. California Congressman Duncan Hunter and teacher David Dhillon launched "Camarena Clubs" in California high schools. The following year, parent-teacher organizations in California, Illinois, and Virginia wore red ribbons in late March and April. In 1988, the first National Red Ribbon Week was organized by the National Family Partnership (NFP), proclaimed by the U.S. Congress and chaired by Nancy Reagan.
Today, Red Ribbon Week is a time dedicated to promoting prevention awareness campaigns. It is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug awareness and prevention program. Parents, educators, and community members strive to reinforce the drug-free messages shared through information awareness and education during this week as it is celebrated nationally.
The National Guard Counterdrug Program conducts a full-spectrum campaign that bridges the gap between and among Department of War and Non-Department of War institutions in the fight against illicit drugs and transnational threats to the Homeland. The program supports military, law enforcement, and community-based counterdrug operations at all levels of government to anticipate, deter, and defeat these threats, enhance national security, and protect our society.
(U.S. Army National Guard article and photos by Staff Sgt. Benjamin Martinez)
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