Prom creates a wonderful memory for many students at Florida high schools. Teens plan, both individually and at school, to make prom a special night. Yet, drugs and alcohol can sometimes ruin that special night. In the worst-case scenario, the night can become tragic.

According to a AAA survey, 31 percent of high schoolers say they or someone they know plan to be under the influence of drugs or alcohol sometime during prom/graduation season. This statistic is troubling—students go through the effort of creating that special prom memory (not to mention the money their parents spend on gowns, tuxes and so on), then might get impaired enough to not remember the night.

When you walk into your local Publix Pharmacy in January, please thank the pharmacist and store manager for helping to prevent prescription drug abuse!

Once again, Publix is partnering with Informed Families to promote an important new years message: Lock Your Meds. The Lock Your Meds campaign, created by the National Family Partnership and sponsored by Informed Families in Florida, educates adults about the importance of securing medication to keep them out of the wrong hands.

Lock Your Meds asks individuals to secure their medication, take regular inventory to ensure nothing is missing, safely dispose of unused or expired medication and share the message with friends and family.

The campaign will be featured in 1,022 Publix Pharmacy stores across Southeastern United States. Each Publix Pharmacy store will have in-store counter signage and printed pharmacy receipts with a Lock Your Meds Message. This is the fifth year in a row that Publix, the fastest growing grocery chain in America, is collaborating with Informed Families to reduce prescription drug abuse in Florida's communities. 

Building A Drug Prevention Network Across Florida

Today, there is a Heroin Epidemic sweeping across America. All of our plans, dreams, and hopes for educating children can be swept away by this Epidemic. How do we face and fight this heroin Epidemic to assure the future of Florida’s children?

No one wants their child to become a drug addict, yet we are all overwhelmed with many demands and problems. There is little time to work on one of our most important goals: Defeating the drug problem.

We must join TOGETHER, creating CRITICAL MASS and a NETWORK to deliver consistent messages across Florida and across America to turn the tide of this epidemic.

Joining together sounds easy but it is not easy. Working together can be complicated and time consuming, thus we frequently avoid it.

Since working together is essential; Informed Families/The Florida Family Partnership is making it simple to join together and deliver effective messages to our children.

This January, Informed Families is partnering with Publix Pharmacy to deliver the Lock Your Meds® campaign, which aims to reduce prescription drug abuse by making adults aware that they are often the unintended suppliers of abused prescription medications.

Lock Your Meds asks individuals to secure their medication, take regular inventory to ensure nothing is missing, safely dispose of unused or expired medication and share the message with friends and family.

The campaign will be featured in 646 Publix Pharmacy stores across Florida through counter displays and printed pharmacy receipts containing a message about Lock Your Meds. This is the fourth year in a row that Publix, the fastest growing grocery chain in America, is collaborating with Informed Families to reduce prescription drug abuse in Florida's communities. 

School Entry Winner - Orlando Science Elementary School, Paola Stauffer

Home Entry Winner - Demarco/Reynolds Family, Pompano Beach Elementary

Informed Families is proud to announce the winners of its 2015 Florida Red Ribbon Photo Contest, which takes place as a part of National Red Ribbon Week ® – the nation’s oldest and largest drug prevention campaign. The contest, sponsored by Informed Families/The Florida Family Partnership encouraged families and schools to decorate their homes and classrooms with this year’s Red Ribbon Week theme, “Respect Yourself. Be Drug Free™.” All this was done to promote the commitment to living a healthy and drug-free lifestyle. The winners, who received the most votes in each category (home entries and school entries), earned $1,000 for their schools and an iPad for themselves.

The school entry winner is Orlando Science Elementary School, led by Administrator Paola Stauffer, who coordinated the effort to decorate the front of the school with this year’s Red Ribbon theme. Paola wins an iPad for herself and $1,000 to be used for drug prevention efforts at the school.

“I loved engaging the entire school community in the contest: students, parents, teachers and the administration.” said Paola Stauffer. “I believe if you start educating children early about drug prevention and involving parents, there will be a greater impact.’

Orlando Science Elementary School Principal, Michael Singleton, said he is very proud of his school and impressed by Paola’s efforts to rally the school in support of Red Ribbon Week.

“I am proud that our school won,” said Principal Singleton. “We have a special group of parents, students, and staff who do what it takes to be successfully, both academically and socially. There is a lot of hard work that goes into Red Ribbon Week and it’s nice to see a direct reward for this team effort.”

The home entry winner in the Florida Red Ribbon Photo Contest is the Demarco/Reynolds family. Pompano Beach Elementary School students, Drew, Abby and Stephen Reynolds, and their family, decorated their home fence with this year’s Red Ribbon theme and ultimately won an iPad and $1,000 for their school, from Informed Families.

“What I liked most about my kids participating in the contest was the theme: ‘Respect Yourself. Be Drug Free,’” said Tina Demarco, Drew, Abby and Stephen’s mother. “I want my children to know that they can be themselves. They don’t need to do drugs to fit in with other people.”

Pompano Beach Elementary School Principal Stephen P. Larson expressed his excitement about the win and the financial support for his school.

“We were thrilled to learn that one of our parents thought enough about the importance of drug education, our students, and our community to enter the statewide contest,” said Principal Stephen P. Larson. “It is indeed a powerful demonstration showing the influence that one person and one family can have on our community. We are excited about the opportunity to invest in current drug prevention materials and the potential that these funds can have on our school.”

National Red Ribbon Week began in 1985 and was started by the National Family Partnership in response to the abduction and murder of DEA Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. Since its inception, the campaign has touched millions of lives to promote and celebrate drug free living. Informed Families is the Florida Sponsor of the campaign each year.

“An estimated 80 million people celebrate Red Ribbon Week each year,” said Informed Families President & CEO Peggy Sapp. “We designed the contest to bring the Red Ribbon message home and to give parents a chance to talk about the dangers of drug abuse. By receiving the same message at home, in school and in the community, children are significantly more likely to really hear and benefit from the prevention message.”