NORTH MISSISSIPPI - This week (Oct. 26-31) will be a busy one for Maggie and her handler Bob as they travel to schools across Lee and Monroe Counties- teaching kids that "drugs are dummies."
"Maggie got introduced to the school system down in Meridian and since last year we've read Maggie's story, which is a book that's written as though Maggie is telling the story, to over ten-thousand kids," Maggie's handler and Regional Counterdrug Training Academy Training Coordinator, Bob McBride explains.
A retired Police K9, Maggie is just one of many special guests who will step into classrooms this week. It's all part of the nation's oldest and largest drug prevention program, known as Red Ribbon Week.
"This week was picked out actually by Nancy and Ronald Regan as the week to celebrate Kiki Camerena's life," Director of Region 3's Underage Drinking Initiative, Dr. Vicki Lindsay says. "Kiki was a DEA Agent that was killed in Mexico by the cartels. What we do now is we celebrate his life and what he was trying to do for our kids."
While Red Ribbon Week puts a spotlight on the topic the lesson is not restricted to seven days, staying drug free is a subject students are taught year around.
"We're in the schools year around, trying to do prevention classes," Lindsay explains. "We have curriculum that we do for ten week periods, that we're in the schools constantly doing curriculum and prevention classes."
Whether it's Red Ribbon Week, or any other day, the goal is prevention. Starting at an early age and reinforcing the message every year.
"Probably what they know is not a complete understanding of what's going on with drugs," Principal of West Amory Elementary School, David Millender says. "We like to give them this introduction at this age and just go through the basics of 'if you are ever around drugs' or just the idea that maybe someone has some type of drug paraphernalia, just to get away from that."
In addition to visiting West Amory Elementary, Bob and Maggie also stopped by Guntown Elementary on Monday (Oct. 26).
