HARLINGEN — What should a child do if a grown-up offers drugs?
Run to a grownup they trust.
Dylan Louks, 9, had just learned that important lesson from Sgt. Alfredo Alvear of the Harlingen Police Department. Alvear was speaking to students at Zavala Elementary about avoiding drugs such as marijuana and cocaine as part of Red Ribbon Week.
“Can you trust your friends?” Alvear asked Sarah Gutierrez, 10.
“Yes,” she said, a little nervously, but struggling to show confidence before her classmates.
“Can friends be kind?” Alvear asked.
“Yes, they can always be kind to each other,” answered Sarah, a fourth grader.
Alvear told the children about the very unkind world of illegal drug use.
People are beaten, murdered, tortured. Friends turn on each other. Drugs break up families. Parents on drugs neglect their children, and children on drugs withdraw from families.
“Stay drug free,” Alvear said firmly but with warmth and familiarity.
“Some of you guys have a hard life,” Alvear said. “You can grow up and get an education.”
He was speaking to one of the factors that often leads to drug abuse — poverty.
“I was talking to a teacher,” he said. “He told me he grew up in the housing projects. He was working on his master’s degree.”
And then Alvear told how he grew up poor.
“I used to flush the toilet with a bucket,” he said. He talked about trying to stay warm during the cold winter because there was no heating.
Poverty could be painful, he said. However, instead of using drugs to numb that pain, he worked for a better life through education and employment.
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National Family Partnership provides drug awareness by sponsoring the annual National Red Ribbon Campaign™. Since its beginning in 1985, the Red Ribbon has touched the lives of millions of people around the world. In response to the murder of DEA Agent Enrique Camarena, angered parents and youth in communities across the country began wearing Red Ribbons as a symbol of their commitment to raise awareness of the killing and destruction cause by drugs in America. In 1988, NFP sponsored the first National Red Ribbon Celebration. Today, the Red Ribbon serves as a catalyst to mobilize communities to educate youth and encourage participation in drug prevention activities.
Source: www.redribbon.org
