Principal says Red Ribbon Week still effective tool for awareness

This week marks Red Ribbon Week across the Borderland, in which students learn about the dangers of drug use and drug trafficking.

The Drug Enforcement Administration created Red Ribbon Week after the murder of one of its own agents, Enrique ‘Kiki’ Camarena, at the hands of Mexican drug traffickers in the 1980s.

ABC-7 visited Harmony School of Innovation in northeast El Paso where DEA officials talked to pre-kinder and kindergarteners about the dangers of drugs.

“Awareness is one of the most beneficial tools for prevention,” said assistant principal Donald Beam. He said Red Ribbon Week still makes an impact on how children are learning about staying away from drugs.

Beam said there are still some questions students have that may be difficult to answer, but they do their best to explain to young children about the potential deadly impact drugs have on people.

When it comes to the message, Beam said schools have to get creative. “The more outrageous it is, the more the kids will take notice.”

By the end of this week, DEA officials will visit 34 schools and give 58 presentations through out El Paso and Las Cruces.

Along with presentations, the DEA also uses social media to get its message out to the public. The DEA’s message comes at a time when several states have legalized its recreational use, leading to an increased acceptance of marijuana nationwide.

Assistant Special Agent in Charge Rudy Maldonado said people have to remember the laws in their own state.

An alarming trend in places like El Paso is who drug traffickers target to help them with getting drugs across the border into the U.S.

Maldonado said students who cross on a daily basis from Mexico to attend school in the U.S. have become targets.

“Once we waiver and make drugs less dangerous in the eyes of our children, we potentially open the door to drug experimentation,” Maldonado said.