For nearly 30 years now, Americans from throughout the nation have been taking part in an event known alternately as the Red Ribbon Campaign or the National Red Ribbon Campaign. Since 1985, the event has commemorated the tragic death of Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique Camarena, who was brutally tortured and murdered by agents of a drug cartel while he was serving on duty in Mexico. The beginnings of the Red Ribbon Campaign were in a spontaneous movement, in which Americans of all ages and from all walks of life started wearing red ribbons as a way to commemorate Camarena and spread awareness of the violence of the war on drugs and how many lives are being ruined or destroyed by the fight between law enforcement and the drug cartels.
It was the result of the actions of parents who banded together in the wake of Camarena’s murder, deciding in their frustration at yet another atrocity relating to drugs that it was time to take action to turn the situation around. Since then, people across the country have observed the National Red Ribbon Campaign with events and activities aimed at making more Americans aware of the scope and nature of the effect that drugs have on the lives of countless people throughout the world.
Beginning in 1988, the National Family Partnership took on the role of the official sponsor of the Red Ribbon Campaign, and they have been working to spread awareness of the event and get more people involved with the cause. They have been quite successful at it, reaching millions of Americans with the message and educating people about the harsh realities of the fight against the drug cartels and the violent consequences of the international drug trade. Most people would not be willing to purchase a product which they knew had been produced and delivered to them at the cost of human life. Americans tend to be appalled at the thought of using cosmetics which have been tested for safety on lab animals, and there is widespread support for humane farming practices in the production of meat products. How many of the people who use drugs casually would feel similar outrage as is expressed on these other issues if they really understood just how much blood may have been spilled in bringing them their drugs?
Recognizing Addiction in Society
Getting more people to recognize the human toll of the drug trade is an effective way to fight the spread of drugs and addiction in our society. It is, however, not the primary front in that battle, which is the effort to prevent drug use in the first place. As long as there are people in the United States who want to use drugs, there will be those in other countries who are more than happy to supply that demand, even at the cost of human life. Worse, the fact that drugs are illegal gives rise to a lucrative black market in which the most ruthless can prosper. Americans who buy and use drugs produced and sold by this black market are supporting the violence and helping to ensure that it will continue. Prevention is vital as a way to strangle the flow of drugs into the U.S. by drying up the demand for the cartels’ products.
Underlying the fact that Enrique Camarena was murdered by the drug cartels was the fact that millions of Americans were buying the drugs that gave the cartels a reason to exist. Fortunately, the vital necessity of prevention is recognized by individuals, organizations and agencies throughout the U.S., ranging from the State of Alaska to the Narconon drug rehab network. These groups and others like them are actively working to educate the public about the dangers of drug abuse, and are making an impact in their efforts to keep people from getting involved in drugs in the first place. The more people we can convince to avoid drugs, the greater will be our chances of putting an end to the violence that gave rise to the Red Ribbon Campaign.
