NFL Hall-of-Famer Marshall Faulk Joins Miami Jackson High & NFL Alum to Unveil Super Bowl 2020 Anti-Drug Mural

Former NFL safety Nick Ferguson unveils Super Bowl 2020 anti-drug mural at his alma mater, Miami's Jackson Senior High School

Miamian Nick Ferguson and Foundation for a Drug-Free World spokesperson Marshall Faulk speak to students in Miami’s Jackson Senior High gymnasium before the unveiling of the school’s new mural with its drug-free message

Artist Ju Reams (left) unveils the mural he created at the high school where former NFL safety Nick Ferguson (center) went to school and got his start in football.

Drug-Free World volunteers at the ceremony launching the new mural at Miami's Jackson High School

Nick Ferguson, who graduated from Miami's Jackson High School encourages kids to live drug-free.

MIAMI, FLORIDA, USA, January 30, 2020 /EINPresswire.com/ -- On January 30, 2020, NFL Hall-of-Famer and Foundation for a Drug-Free World national spokesperson Marshall Faulk joined Miamian and former NFL safety Nick Ferguson to unveil a two-story mural at Miami Jackson Senior High, the school where Ferguson got his start in the sport.

Renowned Miami muralist and firefighter Julian Reams wants to give the youth of his city a better future. According to a new study from researchers at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 8.6 percent of black male students in Miami-Dade County have used heroin at least once.

“My purpose is to inspire the youth to stay focused, stay the course and not be distracted,” said Reams, 32. “The Message is say ‘no’ to drugs, because they are a deadly distraction. If our youth can focus on establishing a stable foundation for a bright future, the world is theirs.”

Reams’ mural—featuring a member of the Jackson High Giants team running with the ball and the words “drug-free world”—was a collaboration between Reams, Foundation for a Drug-Free World, and NFL alums Marshall Faulk and Nick Ferguson.

For five years, Foundation for a Drug-Free World, which supports the world’s largest nongovernmental drug education program, the Truth About Drugs, has brought volunteers from across the country to the Super Bowl to distribute hundreds of thousands of educational booklets sharing the truth about drugs—straight facts that inspire youth to come to their own decision to live their lives drug-free. The team is in the process of distributing 750,000 The Truth About Drugs booklets to contribute to a safe and drug-free Super Bowl.

The truth about drugs is a message—and reality—that Marshall Faulk wants students and parents to come to grips with as early as possible.

“Understand this,” said Faulk, who delivered a presentation to some 1,600 students gathered in Miami's Jackson Senior High gymnasium before the unveiling, “every person you see in your neighborhood that’s on drugs—at some point, they were your age, and they made a decision. It was not the right decision. We want you to know there’s an option out there to be drug-free.”

“As you watch videos,” he continued, “you see the celebrities, you see the hip-hop—they make drugs look cool. It’s not cool once you’re addicted. It’s not cool when you’re homeless. Drugs are not cool. You’re going to have to make a lot of big decisions. You have the opportunity to take control of your life.”

Former Denver Broncos safety Nick Ferguson also spoke at his alma mater: “A kid came up to me afterward and told me he understood what I said because he too found himself in situations where family members and friends were trying to pull him down with drugs.”

“These kids grew up in the same environment that I grew up in. I love my area and I love my school and I’ve always wanted to come back and bring something that was needed, so to do it as a professional athlete, at Super Bowl weekend, in my city, was awesome, it was impactful, it was emotional and it was really big for me.”

Ferguson spoke to a student athlete who approached him after the unveiling. Gesturing to a ladder at the side of the school, he said: “This ladder symbolizes everyone’s climb to get better in life. Imagine trying to climb up that ladder with someone grabbing at your pants, trying to pull you down. That’s what life is like on drugs. It’s already hard to get up the ladder anyway, and if you do drugs, you can’t get up at all.”

Julieta Santagostino, director of the Florida chapter of Foundation for a Drug-Free World, echoed Ferguson’s sentiment. “Down here in South Florida, I see how heavily drugs weigh on the area, especially with kids—how young they are when they start. It’s so common, so normalized. That’s why it’s so important for people like Marshall and Nick to be voices and models for living drug-free.”

For Marshall Faulk’s message about the Truth About Drugs visit drugfreeworld.org

Jessica Hochman
Foundation for a Drug-Free World
+1 818-952-5260
email us here
Visit us on social media:
Facebook
Twitter

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.