Superintendent Elsie Arntzen and Attorney General Austin Knudsen Recognize Red Ribbon Week

• Brian O'Leary
• October 24 2022

HELENA – Superintendent Arntzen and Attorney General Knudsen are encouraging Montanans to “Celebrate Life. Live Drug Free.” during Red Ribbon Week, October 23-31. This is a great week to talk to Montana students about the dangers of using drugs and the importance of living a drug-free life.

Although alcohol and drug use by high school students has been trending downward over the last 20 years, adolescent drug overdose deaths have risen exponentially in recent years. The trend is almost entirely due to illicit fentanyl.

“Montana students are resilient even though they have experienced challenges over the last few years,” said Superintendent Elsie Arntzen. “One of my main initiatives as Superintendent has been Montana Hope, which focuses on family and community engagement. I am confident that with educated awareness our students will strive to make healthy choices.”

“One pill can kill. With illicit fentanyl pouring across the border and into Montana, it’s more important than ever for parents, guardians, teachers, coaches, and anyone else who has contact with school-age kids to talk to them about how to avoid fentanyl and the importance of staying drug-free,” Attorney General Knudsen said.

Every odd year Montana students in grades 7-12 take the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which is a self-reported substance abuse and mental health survey. The 2021 YRBS results for drug and alcohol use by high school students showed:

• 31% currently drink alcohol
• 18% had their first drink of alcohol before age 13
• 16% currently binge drink
• 37% have tried marijuana, including 7% who tried before age 13
• 20% currently use marijuana
• 12% tried prescription pain medication without a prescription
• 2% tried methamphetamines
• 3% were offered, sold, or given an illegal drug on school property

Through August 30, Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (RMHIDTA) task forces, which includes the Montana Department of Justice’s narcotics bureau and state Highway Patrol criminal interdiction teams, seized more than 137,000 fentanyl dosage units in Montana, compared to the 61,000 dosage units seized in all of 2021.

Red Ribbon Week began as a way of remembering Drug Enforcement Administration special agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena’s murder by drug traffickers and the overall destruction that drugs cause to American families.