LOCAL charity PRIDE Bermuda is to hold its annual Red Ribbon Campaign next month. To be featured are a host of events designed around the charity's efforts throughout the year, dedicated toward drug prevention education and awareness. An international event started 20 years ago, the Red Ribbon Campaign provides a means for communities to take a stand against substance abuse. It highlights a running theme for the local charity - the importance of educating young people prior to addiction. In advance of October's celebrations, PRIDE executive director Judith Burgess sent a blanket invitation to residents, encouraging us all to be a part of the solution.

Parent Resource Institute for Drug Education (PRIDE) kicks off its 11th Red Ribbon Campaign next month with the theme, "United for a Stronger Bermuda, Drug-Free". Aside from the general aim of educating young people on the perils of substance abuse, the hope is that the campaign will encourage residents to support the local charity in its efforts.

"With so many recent events in Bermuda impacting the lives of our youth, this year's Red Ribbon Campaign is particularly timely," Mrs. Burgess said. "Now, more than ever, the community needs to come together in solidarity to support our young people.

"At PRIDE Bermuda, we believe in arming our young people with the information and skills they need to make positive choices in their life - before drug use occurs. We encourage everyone in Bermuda to show their support for PRIDE's drug prevention activities by joining in this year's Red Ribbon Campaign."

PRIDE has worked with families, teachers and community activists since 1986. Its efforts are based on proven research that young people who avoid drug and alcohol use in their teens are more likely to continue that lifestyle into adulthood, thereby avoiding harmful behaviours including violence, crime and sustained drug use.

The Red Ribbon Campaign began in 1988 as a means of honouring former US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Enrique (Kiki) Camarena, who was kidnapped and killed in Mexico in 1985. The agent had uncovered a multi-billion dollar drug scam, which he suspected officers of the Mexican army, police forces and government of being involved in. His death caused an outpouring of sympathy around the world and the creation of the Red Ribbon Campaign.

"This year I want to heighten the awareness around our Red Ribbon campaign, but also get people to understand that it really is all about prevention," Mrs. Burgess continued. "I don't think we can ever be reminded too often, especially we as parents and adults, that we need to try and educate our young children about making good choices."

The executive director said while it is commonly understood that adolescence is a time where kids tend to experiment with drugs and alcohol, those who are properly educated on the hazards of substance abuse will not become addicts.

"Of course if young people make good choices they're not going to choose to dabble in drugs at all but hopefully with the groundwork that we've done, it will remain as experimentation.

"As we've said (before), if we can just get young people to make the right choices up until the age of 19, they may choose never to use drugs.

"We also classify alcohol as a drug although it's legal - and so the chance is that if they do use it, that they will use responsibly. That's basically what the Red Ribbon Campaign is about.

"Enrique was killed in 1985 and his family and friends wanted to do something to (show) that one person could make a difference in the substance abuse area. They started in 1988 - we're now celebrating our 11th year and across the United States and Canada and some other areas, they are celebrating their 20th."

Mrs. Burgess said she believes the Red Ribbon Campaign has helped raise community awareness but insisted there is always more that could be done. She said: "I'd like to believe (it has made a difference) but this year I want to raise the bar a little higher. And that's why we're doing more activities to bring people in."

Events begin with a 24-hour rocking chair marathon on Front Street on October 7. Other activities include a red ribbon extravaganza at Harbour Nights, a community service day and a candlelight walk. October 22 has been set aside as a day for residents to wear red to show their support for the charity's efforts.

"Wearing red means I support substance abuse prevention," Mrs. Burgess explained. "It doesn't mean I don't drink, I don't smoke, just that I support (abuse education) and I certainly support our young people in their choice to remain drug free. It's not just about PRIDE. It's not just about one organisation. It really is about us coming together and determining where we want our community to go.

"(American cultural anthropologist) Margaret Mead was once asked if she thought a few people could make a difference in the world. She replied in fact, it is the only thing that ever has made a difference - a few people making a decision to go a certain way."

One of the original members of the group BANS (Bermuda Advocates for Non Smoking), Mrs. Burgess said she was encouraged by its success in implementing legislation forbidding smokers from lighting up in restaurants and office buildings.

"I think the first time we sat around the table there were six of us," she said. "To me that essence is still there, the essence that we as a community can make a difference. But we just have to be able to say we're going to work alongside each other to make that difference. It may be difficult for us to make it over here by ourselves in our little closed silo, but working together we can make those differences."

The charity's drug prevention message was labelled an important one by Culture and Social Rehabilitation Minister Dale Butler.

"PRIDE Bermuda continues to make progress in educating youth and adults about the serious dangers of drugs," he stated. "PRIDE Bermuda's Red Ribbon Campaign is an annual event that raises awareness of issues relating to drug and alcohol abuse, but also celebrates those young people who are making positive choices in their lives. It is necessary, and I would say imperative, that all Bermudians work together to educate our youth on the importance of a drug-free lifestyle. The Red Ribbon Campaign is one of many events put on by PRIDE throughout the year and I hope Bermuda will continue to be supportive of this worthy cause."

Despite the charity's ongoing efforts, substance abuse remains a problem on the island, Mrs. Burgess admitted. By targeting the youth for education however, there is hope for future change.

"I think that the Red Ribbon campaign just brings the focus back to the community - that we can all participate in this. And it lets our young people especially, know that we are supporting them in their choice, and if there's someone that has made a wrong choice, that there is some place they can go to change that situation. We want our young people to know that they can make a wrong decision but they can change that decision."

The charity's hope is "to bring greater awareness" to all facets of the community.

"In the past few weeks there have been lots of things put on by parent organisations and parent groups. We've had some phone calls from some smaller communities asking if we're willing to support their efforts in their neighbourhoods. We have said definitely we will do that.

"I believe that if we bring awareness that people will realise that if they have a sense that things aren't as they should be in their community - whether it's their school, church or the community in which they live - then they can band together and make sure that they're providing a safe environment for the young people coming up."

While parents should get involved, children are ultimately responsible for their own choices, the executive director insisted.

"I don't believe it's all the parents. I look at it like an insurance policy. You take out a policy but are you ever going to get the benefit of it? Chances aren't that you will. Even if you work with your children and help them to make the right choices, they are still individuals. They may make decisions that you may not agree with and which are totally against what you believe in. But you know at the end of the day that you have done all you can to provide what that young person has needed to traverse their teen years safely - that's all you can do."

According to Mrs. Burgess, PRIDE's education programmes would be less successful without the sponsorship of Belco and the Bank of Bermuda. Donations from the two companies enable the charity to supply schoolchildren across the island with substance abuse prevention literature.

It is her hope that this year's Red Ribbon Campaign will saturate the island's adult population with a similar message.

"To me, the Red Ribbon Campaign brings that awareness, that attention, it lets the community know this is something we can all focus on - that we can all work together, we can all take some part in it.

"There becomes an occasion where you as a person can make a decision to become involved in something that is a part of the solution as opposed to sitting back and saying, 'What's this community coming to*?>*' You can, in whatever small way, say that you have played a part in trying to work toward a solution for substance abuse."

For more information on the Red Ribbon Campaign, or to become involved in it, telephone PRIDE on 295-9970 or send an e-mail, infopride.prevention.bm.