Red Ribbon Week

Monday was “Wear Red Day” and the door of each homeroom was decorated with the theme, “Slam the Door on Drugs.” On Tuesday, all kids wore sweats to school for “Being Drug Free is No Sweat.” On Halloween Wednesday, costumes were the dress code for “Say Boo to Drugs.” Thursday’s theme was “Lei off Drugs” with all the children and faculty sporting the colorful necklaces and on Friday mismatched clothes was the dress code for “Drugs and I Don’t Mix.”

In addition to the prizes and treats given out all week (for example, pretzels at lunch to emphasize “Don’t Let Drugs Twist Your Mind”), six adolescent residents of Daytop Village, a residential drug treatment program in Mendham, NJ., came to speak to seventh and eighth grade students about their lives and drug experimentation. In an “up close and personal” manner, each resident told a cautionary tale of drug use leading to addiction, in some cases incarceration, and eventual placement by the court in the drug treatment program.

As Craig students listened to each Daytop Village resident, they heard a message of how casual drug use can escalate to drug addiction and the unraveling of lives. Residents told the students how no one ever thinks they are heading toward trouble when beginning to use drugs, about the pain they inflicted on their families, friends, and themselves, and the difficulty of stopping once involved in drug use. They discussed how peer pressure is often subtle, and that ultimately it is up to the student to make a healthy or destructive choice. Advising the students that drug use is definitely “not cool,” they strongly urged all students never to start the journey. Craig students were advised to talk to caring adults in their lives about problems and concerns, rather than turn to drugs.