ANTI-DRUG CAMPAIGN Red Ribbon Week puts focus on nation's youths

The co-founder also served in the Office of National Drug Control Policy
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Young people are looking for the opportunity to be a part of something, says the co-founder of a nationwide youth anti-drug campaign that starts today.
"I learned it by watching my own kids," said Henry Lozano, one of the founders of Red Ribbon Week, which runs through Oct. 31. "Young people are looking for leadership every day, every young person from junior high on up."
Lozano is a member of the board of directors of the Corporation for National and Community Service, and he also sits on the board of directors of the Community Anti-Drug Coalition of America.
The Corporation for National and Community Service is a national community service organization and includes AmeriCorps and Senior Corps among its branches.
He also served as co-chairman for the President's Advisory Commission on Drug-Free Communities in the office of National Drug Control Policy.
How it started
Red Ribbon, which is seeing a resurgence in Trumbull County this year, started in the late 1980s after drug traffickers kidnapped and murdered Enrique Camarena, a Drug Enforcement Administration special agent.
Lozano and a number of Camarena's high school friends were asked to return to their alma mater to speak to students about staying away from drugs.
Lozano, a high school friend of Camarena, and U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, the agent's congressman, formed the Kiki Clubs in Clexico, Calif., the border town where Camarena and Lozano grew up. Kiki is a nickname for Enrique.
Club members pledge to live drug free in the agent's honor. The event gained national attention when former President Ronald and first lady Nancy Reagan got involved.
"Two hundred and fifty kids came out to say they would stay drug free and talk to their parents and the community and their friends about being drug free," Lozano said.
The Red Ribbon Campaign was borne out of the clubs.
Week's events
This year's county event involves churches, schools, law enforcement and community groups.
Events were to begin this morning with a 5-kilometer run/1-mile fun run beginning on Courthouse Square.
A humanitarian drive for troops fighting in Iraq also is being conducted as part of the campaign with participants donating food, morale boosters and personal-hygiene products.
Douglas Lamplugh, agent in charge of the DEA's Youngstown office, is speaking to schoolchildren throughout the week, and a poster contest is being sponsored for middle school pupils as part of the event. High school students can participate in a contest to create an anti-drug public service announcement.
Lozano also is involved in the annual PRIDE Youth Conference, another anti-drug effort, planned next year in Cincinnati. That attracts about 5,000 young people, teaching them to be leaders and to carry the anti-drug message to other young people.
denise_dick@vindy.com