Program dares kids to stay off drugs
Dare to be drug free.
This is the motto of the DARE program used in schools to educate children about the effects of drug and alcohol abuse.
DARE has been in schools for about 10 years, and next year the program will change.
“There are new drugs and the program can me managed a little more efficiently,” said Brad Hansen, a detective in Logan Police Department.
Currently, DARE is given in fifth grade classrooms. It is a 17-week core curriculum that reviews different kinds of drugs and alcohol. DARE teaches resistance techniques especially in the situation when a child’s friend offers them the drugs or alcohol.
“We want the problem to go away, not the child’s friendship,” Hansen said.
Self-esteem and stress- and violence-reducing techniques are also taught in the program. The program also allows the officers to establish a relationship with the students and to show the children cops are not someone to be feared or hated. They are friends to help them.
According to the DARE Web site, findings of a study recently published by the journal of the National Medical Association demonstrates that the DARE curriculum is highly effective in prevention of smoking among elementary school children. The study found that students who completed the DARE program were five times less likely to start smoking compared to those who did not participate in DARE. The DARE students also had a significantly higher knowledge regarding the risk of smoking than the comparison group.
“This study validates what DARE instructors, DARE graduates and their parents have known for years – DARE works! Through DARE’s comprehensive curriculum, students are armed with the tools needed to reject destructive behaviors such as smoking, drinking and taking drugs. Dozens of studies, including this most recent one of the current DARE curriculum, confirm the effectiveness of our efforts,” DARE America’s President Glenn Levant said, according to the Web site.
DARE also provides a positive experience for both officer and student.
“We live in a diverse society, and parents might teach their children that drugs and alcohol are not bad,” Hansen said. “As a parent, I tell my children that I can’t be with you to choose for you.”
DARE provides children with the information and consequences and they can make their own decisions, he said.
“It’s their choice. They can do other things that don’t involve drugs. DARE teaches a well-rounded and effective program,” Hansen said.
Holly Fjedsted’s fifth grade class at Adams Elementary School is participating in the DARE program. The students are actively involved in the learning process by answering questions from a workbook or from their teacher Officer Gale.
This is Officer Gale’s first year as a DARE teacher. He believes the DARE program is a big benefit to kids.
“DARE teaches more than how to say no. It teaches them life skills,” Gale said. “It is a true education, it teaches them why and not just what is wrong.”
During the lesson, students learned stress-management skills like counting to 10, talking about the cause of the stress, accepting the things they can’t change and breathing deeply.
“You learn things you need to know, like that you shouldn’t take drugs,” said Samantha Schneiter, a student in Fjedsted’s class.
Isela Torres, another of Fjedsted’s students, said, “It helps me live a better life and gives me reasons not to take drugs. It teaches me how to say no.”
-kassrobison@cc.usu.edu