Celebrating Red Ribbon Week 2020 in Pennsylvania

National Family Partnership sponsored the country’s first Red Ribbon Week in October 1988. The idea for Red Ribbon Week started a few years earlier, though, in 1985. It began as a public reaction to the awful murder of Enrique (Kiki) Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration Agent.

Camarena was a driven, hard-working family man who felt called to help people. After graduating high school, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps and then became a police officer. He then joined the DEA in 1974, telling his mother, “I’m only one person but I want to make a difference.”

After assisting the DEA in various locations for a decade, he was transferred to Guadalajara, Mexico in 1980. Camarena was sent to investigate the alarming surge in drug trafficking in Mexico around the time. Well-respected by his fellow agents, Camarena’s work led to the discovery of a 200-acre marijuana plantation in 1984.

Unfortunately, high-level traffickers had their eyes on Camarena. He was abducted while on his way to meet with his wife for lunch on February 7, 1985. His abductors tortured and then murdered him, leaving his body in a rural area nearby.

Camarena’s body was discovered almost a month later on March 5, 1985. His brutal death enraged communities across the country. People started wearing red ribbons to honor the sacrifice Camarena made trying to stop the spread of drug use.

It’s impossible to deny the impact that drug and alcohol abuse have on the United States today. Frequent, casual alcohol abuse rates are still high among a quarter of the population. About 88,000 people die of alcohol-related fatalities every year in the United States. This makes alcohol the third-leading cause of preventable death in the country.

Pennsylvania is not immune to the effects of alcohol and drug addiction either. In fact, the state had the third-highest number of deaths due to drug overdose in 2017. Drug overdose rates in Pennsylvania were more than two times the national average that year.

Red Ribbon Week is an important part of the fight against opioid abuse and addiction throughout Pennsylvania. The state has its own significant problems with drug and alcohol use. Governor Tom Wolf has made moves over the past few years to combat the effects of addiction in Pennsylvania.

Governor Wolf announced a plan at the end of September, coinciding with National Recovery Month, called Life Unites Us. The campaign aims to reduce the stigma surrounding substance use disorders so residents feel safer asking for help.

“The Life Unites Us campaign will help save lives by decreasing stigma in the commonwealth,” said Governor Wolf. “And it will remind us all that every person is greater than the diseases that afflict them.”

Communities across the country gather to celebrate Red Ribbon Week every year. An estimated 80 million people, including students, parents, teachers, and officials, participate in the campaign. Now more than 30 years old, the Red Ribbon Week campaign’s mission remains the same as at the start.