D.A.R.E...to say NO!

Meghan Jirkovsky
Post 3
D.A.R.E

           D.A.R.E or Drug Abuse Resistance and Education is a drug abuse prevention education program designed to equip elementary and junior high school children with knowledge about drug abuse, the consequences of abuse, and skills for resisting peer pressure to experiment with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. Developed in 1983 by the Los Angeles Police Department in conjunction with the school district, the program was based on the premise that prevention is the only long-term answer to drug abuse. The purpose of DARE is to encourage students in the 5^th and 6^th grade to DARE to say No!

          The four main areas that DARE focuses on are: 1.Providing accurate information about drugs, alcohol and tobacco 2. Teach students good decision-making skills 3. Show students how to recognize and resist peer pressure and 4. Give students ideas for positive alternatives to drugs. DARE is taught by students to officers in a classroom setting; they work with children to raise their self-esteem, teach them how to make decisions on their own, and help them identify positive alternatives to drugs. Through role-playing, the D.A.R.E., curriculum emphasizes the negative consequences of drug use, and reinforces the skills to resist peer pressure and intimidation.

           The question at large regarding the D.A.R.E program is whether or not it is an effective way to decrease the use of drugs and problems with children’s self-esteem. People argue both sides of the fence suggesting that DARE is a pseudoscience, while other proclaim it has helped them or their children. Personally, I believe that the D.A.R.E. program did not do much for me or my friends. I think the DARE programs progress depends on the parenting a child also receives. It is not enough to just send your fifth grader to school and let her learn about drug prevention through DARE. Parents make the world a difference.

DARE

For years we all have been hearing of the uselessness of the DARE program. The large amounts of money being dumped into this service with little or no return has quite a few people questioning it's existence and purpose. As tax payers, we all have the right to feel as if our money is being spent on reasonable and beneficial things. So naturally when DARE educated children grow up into pot smoking or alcohol abusing delinquents the public may throw a red flag. Lawson states that alcohol and marijuana use was unrelated on a ten year follow of children involved in the DARE program. (110). This concludes me to think the program should change it's name and mission statement because I feel as if it has other positive benefits to children.

I went to a small private school and was educated in DARA in the sixth grade. I personally recall not caring about drugs but I was more interested in hearing the cop's stories. Our entire class of 25 was enamored by these two police officers and their stories. After an entire school year of this program and a trip to Wildwood for the day our class had grown close to these cop's as if they were our friends. Prior to this I was terrified of cops and I wanted nothing to do with them, even if i needed them in an emergency. This program allowed my classmates and I to develop a bond with these officers that for the most part has lasted until now. Although we had a few kids slip into different forms of substance abuse, I feel these kids would have followed the same path regardless of DARE.

Today I feel that children recognize police officers as a threat rather than a potential helper. If the public and the police have a mutual respect for each other, that could be gained in programs like DARE, it makes for a more peaceful environment. Maybe a person will reconsider breaking into a car because the person who arrests him was his baseball coach. Maybe a police officer will remember a person from the program and recognize a problem and get them help. This would avoid the downward spiral that seems to occur after incarceration.

I would say somebody who engages in substance abuse will have so many factors leading to that choice that no type of program will prevent that. These people will have at their disposal a few police officers to get help from at the very least. A program should exist but it should not focus primarily on drug resistance but more so on community relations.