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 Drug Abuse
Resistance Education
As part of our commitment to the youth in our community, the Anacortes Police Department, working with the Anacortes School District, is a strong supporter of the DARE Program. DARE is a 16 week curriculum taught in the 5th and 6th grade. A uniformed police officer comes into the classroom and teaches one 45-minute lesson per week. These lessons include learning the effects of drugs, examining beliefs about drug use, considering the consequences of decisions, appropriate response styles, building self-esteem, decision making skills, recognizing risky behaviors, managing stress and saying YES to positive alternatives. One of the most important DARE lessons comes in week five, learning the “8 Ways to Say NO.” In this lesson the students learn eight different resistance techniques that, while focused on resisting peer pressure to use drugs, can also be used in many other situations.
While the DARE program is committed to preventing substance abuse by young people, we actually spend very little time talking about drugs. The core of the DARE curriculum is learning how to make good decisions and to stand up for those decisions.
The DARE Officer also attends school functions and serves as a resource for teachers, students and parents.
Message from DARE Officer Wilson
The purpose of the DARE program is to prevent substance abuse among school children by providing skills to recognize and resist the pressures to experiment with alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs. DARE teaches positive alternatives to drug use as well as the possible consequences of their use. DARE also focuses on feelings related to self-esteem, interpersonal and communication skills and decision making skills. The DARE curriculum offers a variety of activity oriented techniques, which are designed to encourage student-generated responses to problem solving situations. The skills taught in DARE are oriented to resisting drugs and violence but can easily be converted to any decision-making situation.
I am excited about the new DARE curriculum that I will be starting in the spring of 2004. The new curriculum has been about five years in the design and was just introduced for implementation in the schools this fall. The new program places the DARE Officer as more of a facilitator with the students interacting with each other in problem solving situations.
It takes a cooperative effort among parents, schools and the police to be successful in preventing substance abuse among our children. The Anacortes Police Department and the Anacortes School District are committed to that effort. The DARE program provides a foundation that will need to be encouraged and built upon in the coming years. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that just because your child has gone through the DARE program, you never need to talk with them about drugs. As their DARE Officer, I can teach them the skills and techniques to use to resist drugs. As parents, you will need to talk with your child about these subjects, tell them how you feel and what you believe, give them reasons to stay away from drugs and violence.
Throughout DARE, children will learn, laugh and play, all the while learning how to stay away from drugs and building a positive relationship with the police department. Please, feel free to call or email me anytime with questions.
Del Ferrell 293-4684 farrelld@cityofanacortes.org
Link to DARE America www.dare.com
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