Drug prevention is current, up to date

Regarding the Sept. 2 guest commentary, “More must be done to curb teen drug use”:

Today’s Drug Abuse Resistance Education may not be the D.A.R.E. with which most are familiar. Gone is the old-style approach to prevention where an officer stands behind a podium and lectures students. The new curriculum includes officer-facilitated work, role playing, discussion groups, utilization of research-based refusal strategies, and decision making skills.

Students also see for themselves, via stunning brain imagery, tangible proof of how substances diminish mental activity, emotions, coordination and movement. Mock courtroom exercises bring home the social and legal consequences of drug use and violence.

Supplemental lessons and activities on methamphetamines, gangs, bullying, cyber-bullying and Internet safety were developed in 2003. The most recent addition is the prescription/over-the-counter drug abuse materials, which include lessons for elementary, middle school, high school and community presentations.

There have been 18 studies since 1997 showing D.A.R.E. is effective, including one by the National Medical Association showing D.A.R.E. graduates are five times less likely to begin smoking than non-D.A.R.E. graduates. Eleven of these studies can be found on www.dare.org, which receives over 19 million hits per month.

Police chiefs and sheriffs continue praising the benefits of D.A.R.E. and how the program is able to teach young people to say no to drugs, to resist peer pressure and find alternatives to drug use. These law enforcement leaders extol D.A.R.E.’s knack for forging life-long friendships between students and police officers, relationships that sometimes helped kids who were on the edge get back on track.

How do you count the millions of children who’ve made good choices over the years and who didn’t get into trouble because they remembered what that D.A.R.E. officer said who visited their classroom once a week for a year?

D.A.R.E. impacts 26 million children every year in all 50 states and over 50 foreign countries. Prevention and education regarding illegal drugs, abuse of other substances, and violence is not only a sound investment, it is a necessity.

Nadine Moorin

D.A.R.E. America

Northwest Regional Director

Bellevue