Imagine you’re a kid who just got home from school after the bus dropped you off. You walk to the front door. Will your parents be sober? Are they going to be home at all, or even alive? For thousands of children across the U.S., this is not imaginary; it’s everyday life.
National Red Ribbon Week takes place from October 23rd through October 31st. Red Ribbon Week is the largest and longest drug abuse awareness and prevention campaign in the U.S. The campaign focuses on educating children and teens about the risks of drug usage and tries to prevent addictions in adolescent years. Every seven dollars donated to the campaign goes to a drug-addiction treatment.
One in four children in the U.S. live with an adult battling substance addiction. That means around 250 students at Arcata live or lived with an addict in their home. Drugs can heavily affect the life of an user, but also the lives of everyone around them.
Growing up around addicts takes a mental toll on your body and brain. You never know when an overdose could happen, when an addict could lash out, or when they are even mentally present at all. Knowing that some of your best memories with a parent or loved one aren’t shared can ruin your childhood. A parent may be mentally absent, but also physically.
“At some point, I went to school, and I started to feel myself different from other people. The other children could count on their parents if anything happened; we didn’t have that,” a participant in a Parent Substance Abuse study from Ghent University said.
Then there’s the fear of becoming a statistic. Children who grow up around substance abusers are eight times more likely than the average person to become addicted to a substance themselves. Genetic studies show that addiction runs in family genetics. While plenty of individuals grow up around drug abusers and do not become addicts themselves, the constant lingering fear knowing that, by birth, you are more likely to become an addict is frightening.
Drug addiction in Humboldt County is at an extreme, with one of the highest numbers in drug overdoses per year throughout California. Disregarding the rise of specifically hard drug use, substance abuse has a prominent history in Humboldt.
Humboldt is a part of the Emerald Triangle, one of the highest producing cannabis regions in the U.S. A little more than 1,000 permitted farms are active around the county. This does not take into account the number of illegal growers in Humboldt. This allows for extremely easy access to cannabis for both those of age and younger.
In a study done by Kids data, a public service program, 32.9% of students in Humboldt used cannabis in the 30 days before taking the test, compared to 10.4% of students who used in the past 30 days overall in California. That difference is an approximate 216% increase. While cannabis is legal for those over 21 years of age in California, and not considered a hard drug, the addiction rates are still significant.
Cannabis has measurable effects on the brain. Users can become easily dependent on the drug because their brain stops producing endocannabinoid neurotransmitters, which regulate physiological functions. Those who start to use cannabis at a young age are 17% more likely to develop Cannabis Use Disorder, which is a condition involving problematic patterns of cannabis usage.
Throughout the week, to show your support against drug use, you can participate by wearing red or a red ribbon.. The campaign also offers virtual activities on their website, redribbion.org, online competitions and more.
If you or anyone you know is battling an addiction, you can call the national hotline, 1-800-662-HELP, or visit one of the drug rehabilitation centers found in Humboldt, including Redwood Teen Challenge in Eureka and United Indian Health Services in Arcata. Arcata High School also offers on-campus support through Sources of Strength, and onsite counselors. Take a moment this month and remember the lives we’ve lost or could lose to addiction, and the families and everyone else affected by addiction.