Red Ribbon Week lacks relatability and relevance

By Danny Kelleher
Sports Editor

Although Red Ribbon Week has previously been successful in raising awareness, this year’s event revealed a need for more carefully planned programming. As experimentation with illegal substances has become somewhat inevitable for teens, a change in approach needs to be made to Red Ribbon Week in order to address that.

This approach has achieved its goal of attracting at least some attention to the abuse of drugs and alcohol, but it needs to reach students in a more intense and focused manner to effectively combat the frequent occurrences of drug abuse.

Abuse of illegal substances is a serious problem for high school students at Mira Costa and throughout America. With marijuana use among American 12th graders at 32.8%, according to drugabuse.gov, drug abuse prevention needs to be presented in a more professional and focused manner.

At this year’s concluding assembly, the only mandatory activity of the week, the first speaker alluded to masturbation, talked about substance abuse lightly and told stories about pranks he used to pull on teachers when under the influence. Student dramatizations featured gratuitous profanity and even elicited laughter from the audience.

When the goal is to preach about the serious problems teens have with illegal substance abuse, inappropriate tactics have a negative effect on the message trying to be conveyed.

In its debriefing of the week’s activities, the administration said that these aspects were inappropriate and rightfully recommended that they be able to screen the speakers and presentations for content in the future.
However, the program is far from being a lost cause, and with the right modifications it could present the realistic, rational view on drug abuse that students need.

In previous years the assembly has benefited from having former current Costa students relate their experiences frankly, making the presentation relatable and immediately relevant to the majority of the student body.

The “Every 15 Minutes” assembly, held by PACE in 2007 which demonstrated the consequences of drunk driving to students, was successful because there was significant student involvement and the seriousness of the assembly never wavered.

They should bring in more qualified speakers to discuss realistic issues in a way the majority of the student body can relate to and encourage participation more strongly throughout the program.

The administration and PACE have shown their ability to have effective Red Ribbon Week activities in the past; however, they need to concentrate their efforts for the future on presenting their message in a more focused and serious manner.