Browse the resources below to learn more about cannabis, coca, and opium poppy. 

With its array of colors ranging from white to pink to red to purple to blue, the poppy is a flower that has graced gardens around the world. Yet the juice from this botanical beauty has sparked wars, created incalculable wealth, and wreaked indescribable suffering upon millions.

Coca, which is mainly grown in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, is a highly addictive drug that is processed in jungle laboratories where the coca is extracted from the leaves to produce cocaine. Until the early 1900s, cocaine was commonly used in Western medicine as an anesthetic because of its numbing ability. However, in the 1970s cocaine reemerged as an expensive, high status misused drug. Cocaine usage increased throughout the United States when its forms began to vary and it became more widely available and cheaper.

Cannabis is one of the most widely grown plants in the world and the only major misused drug grown within the United States’ borders. Cannabis grows wild throughout the world and is cultivated in many countries; however, the most powerful strains of cannabis sativa are now grown in the United States. The drugs that are derived from cannabis are marijuana, hashish, and hashish oil. From the cannabis plant, marijuana is the most widely used and readily available drug comprised of dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis sativa plant, better known as the hemp plant.

For centuries there has been cultivation of cannabis, coca, and the opium poppy. From the opium poppy has come morphine drips in hospitals, from the coca plant has come cocaine which is used in certain medical surgeries, and from the cannabis plant has come various hemp products. While these plants have provided useful products, they are also among nature’s most addicting and potentially deadly vegetation. This exhibit provides an overview of these “Big Three” addictive plants.

Since 1988, Red Ribbon Week has spread to communities across the United States. Rallies are organized all over the country and often include guest speakers, awards, and dance or choral performances.

The tragic death of DEA Special Agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena inspired the creation of Red Ribbon Week. Every year millions of people across the United States pledge to live healthy, drug-free lives in his memory. 

Parents, educators, and communities reinforce drug-free messages during Red Ribbon Week. Celebrated annually October 23-31, participants learn more about the destructive effects of drug misuse. Spread the word and encourage everyone you know to live a healthy, drug-free life.