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Drama students from Zama Middle School perform during an assembly for Red Ribbon Week inside the school’s auditorium in Camp Zama, Japan, on November 3, 2022. Held each year, Red Ribbon Week It is the largest and longest running in the country. use prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world, according to the National Family Partnership.
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Students from Zama Intermediate High School attend an assembly for Red Ribbon Week inside the school’s auditorium at Camp Zama, Japan, on November 3, 2022. Red Ribbon Week, held every year, is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug prevention campaign ever reaching millions of people around the world, according to the National Family Partnership.
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Staff Sergeant Benigno Núñez, assigned to the 88th Military Police Battalion, shares his personal experiences witnessing the deadly consequences of excessive drug and alcohol use with students during a Red Ribbon Week assembly inside the school’s auditorium Zama Middle High School in Camp Zama, Japan, on Nov. 3. , 2022.
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CAMP ZAMA, Japan – Growing up on Long Island, New York, Benigno Núñez repeatedly witnessed the deadly consequences of drug and alcohol abuse.
Núñez, now a staff sergeant assigned to the 88th Military Police Battalion, shared his story with Zama Middle School students Thursday during a Red Ribbon Week assembly.
His father’s drinking, he began telling students, led to his parents’ divorce and eventually his father’s death from cirrhosis of the liver. Nunez’s friends also lost loved ones, including his friend’s older brother, who collapsed to death in Nunez’s front yard after he was stabbed by a drug dealer.
Years later, Nunez said, another friend of his turned to alcohol after he and his girlfriend broke up.
“He decided that drinking was the way out of his pain,” Nunez said, adding that his friend was arrested twice for driving while intoxicated. “Unfortunately, he thought his life was over and he decided to take his own life, because.”
Though deeply personal to share with an audience, Nunez, who serves as a military police investigator and desk sergeant, said he hoped the real-life tragedies would help prevent students from suffering similar painful experiences.
“Even though it didn’t happen to me, it affects people,” he said of the incidents. “You have your [whole] life ahead. Don’t let drugs and alcohol get the best of you, because the damage is immeasurable.”
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Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Japan, speaks to students during a Red Ribbon Week assembly inside the Zama Intermediate High School auditorium on Camp Zama, Japan, on November 3, 2022. Held each year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world, according to the National Family Partnership .
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Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Japan, speaks to students during a Red Ribbon Week assembly inside the Zama Intermediate High School auditorium on Camp Zama, Japan, on November 3, 2022. Held each year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug prevention campaign that has reached millions of people around the world, according to the National Family Partnership .
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Led by students from the National Junior Honor Society, the school’s Red Ribbon Week also had festivities every day to celebrate being drug free. Some of them allowed students to dress up in costumes, mismatched socks, pajamas, hats, and the color red to help them get into the spirit of the week.
During Thursday’s assembly in the school’s auditorium, students put on performances and videos of public service announcements were shown to deter alcohol and drug use.
Nunez also addressed the students along with Col. Christopher L. Tomlinson, commander of the US Army Garrison Japan.
“Red Ribbon Week is an ideal way for individuals and communities to come together and take a stand against drugs,” Tomlinson said. “It’s a time to show your personal commitment to a drug-free lifestyle.”
Held every year, Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and longest-running drug prevention campaign, reaching millions of people around the world, according to the National Family Partnership.
The campaign began in 1985 following the murder of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a DEA agent who was tortured and killed by drug traffickers in Mexico earlier that year. The death sparked outrage among parents and youth across the country who began wearing red ribbons to raise awareness of the destruction caused by drugs in the United States, according to NFP.
“This year’s theme for Red Ribbon Week is ‘celebrate life…live drug free,’” Tomlinson said. “By celebrating life and living drug free, you are taking care of the most important person in your life and that is you.”
Related links:
US Army Garrison Japan News
USAG Japan official website
Source: news.google.com