Red Ribbon Week: How to Talk to Your Teen About Alcohol and Drugs

Red Ribbon Week starts next Friday. If your child’s school is taking part, they may come home with a red ribbon, a pledge card or a theme day on the calendar. It is also a natural opening for a conversation that a lot of parents put off: talking with your kids about alcohol and drugs.

You do not need a script or a perfect moment. You need a few short, honest talks, and a sense of what is actually going on for teens right now.

Where Red Ribbon Week comes from

According to the DEA’s history of Red Ribbon Week, the campaign honors DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, who was kidnapped in Guadalajara, Mexico, in February 1985 and killed. Students at his old high school in Calexico, California, formed the first “Camarena Club” that spring, and people began wearing red ribbons as a commitment to reducing drug use in their communities.

The National Family Partnership coordinated the first National Red Ribbon Week in 1988. Today it is held every year from October 23 to 31, and the DEA describes it as a chance for parents, educators and communities to talk with young people about the real issues around drug use.

What the latest survey says about teens

Some good news first. The 2025 Monitoring the Future survey, supported by the National Institutes of Health, found that teen use of most substances has stayed near the low point it reached in 2021, for the fifth year in a row. In the past 30 days, 91% of eighth graders, 82% of 10th graders and 66% of 12th graders reported not using marijuana, alcohol or nicotine at all.

Use still climbs with age. In the past 12 months:

• Alcohol:11% of eighth graders, 24% of 10th graders and 41% of 12th graders.
• Cannabis8% of eighth graders, 16% of 10th graders and 26% of 12th graders.
• Nicotine vaping9% of eighth graders, 14% of 10th graders and 20% of 12th graders.

The survey also found small but significant increases in reported heroin and cocaine use across most grades. Use remains far below the levels of past decades, but the researchers said the increase warrants close monitoring.

The takeaway for parents: most teens are not using, and you can say so. Hearing that “everyone does it” is not true can make it easier for a teen to say no.

Five goals for the conversation

SAMHSA’s “Talk. They Hear You.” campaign offers five conversation goals for talking with kids about alcohol and other drugs:

1. Show you disapprove of underage drinking and other drug misuse. SAMHSA reports that over 80% of young people ages 10 to 18 say their parents are the leading influence on whether they drink. Your opinion matters more than it may seem.

2. Show you care about your child’s health, wellness and success. Kids listen better when they know you are on their side. Explain that you do not want them using because you want them safe and happy.

3. Show you are a good source of information. You would rather they hear the facts from you than from a rumor or a social media feed.

4. Show you are paying attention. Young people are more likely to drink or use drugs if they think no one will notice. Stay aware of what is going on in their lives without prying.

5. Build their skills for saying no. Talk through what they would do if someone offered them a drink, a vape or a pill. Some families agree on a code word your teen can text to get picked up, no questions asked that night.

SAMHSA’s advice is to keep it low-key and plan on many short talks rather than one big one. A drive to practice, dinner or a news story can all be openings.

Talk about pills, specifically

One topic deserves its own conversation: pills that do not come from a pharmacy. The DEA’s One Pill Can Kill campaign warns that counterfeit pills are made to look like real prescription medicines, and that 2 milligrams of fentanyl can be enough to kill an average American. In 2025, the DEA seized more than 47 million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills.

The DEA’s advice is simple and worth repeating to your teen: never trust your own eyes to tell whether a pill is real. The only safe medicines are ones prescribed by a trusted medical professional and dispensed by a licensed pharmacist. That includes a friend’s leftover prescription, which can be risky even when it is genuine.

If you are already worried

Signs that something may be wrong include sudden changes in friends, grades, sleep or mood, losing interest in things they used to enjoy, missing money or medicine, and secrecy that goes beyond normal teenage privacy. Any one of these can have other causes, so start with a calm conversation rather than an accusation.

If you are concerned about your teen’s use, their pediatrician or family doctor is a good first call. You can also search for youth and family programs near you at FindTreatment.gov, the federal treatment locator.

When you are ready to talk

Nova Recovery Center treats adults 18 and older. If a parent, a young adult child or another adult in your family is struggling with alcohol or drugs, Nova’s admissions team answers 24 hours a day, and the first conversation is free and confidential. You can also verify your insurance online in a few minutes.

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