Pubdate: Sun, 05 Mar 2006 Source: North Platte Telegraph, The (NE) Copyright: 2006 North Platte Telegraph Contact: http://www.nptelegraph.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1458 Author: John Lindenberger, The North Platte Telegraph Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) NORTH PLATTE DARE PROGRAM CONTINUES 16 YEARS LATER When it comes to making good choices, sometimes education can make all the difference. That is why the North Platte Police Department has been conducting Drug Abuse Resistance Education classes in local schools since 1990. D.A.R.E. is an international program that will reach 36 million school children this year - 26 million in the United States alone. Rather than teach kids to "Just Say No" to drugs and alcohol, the D.A.R.E. program teaches kids how to deal with peer pressure and personal temptation, according to crime prevention officer Troy Erickson. "We try to teach them how to respond to situations," said Erickson, who is one of the local D.A.R.E. instructors. The program was founded in 1983 in Los Angeles and has proven so successful that it is now being implemented in nearly 80 percent of American school districts and in more than 54 countries around the world. The highly acclaimed D.A.R.E. program is a series of classroom lessons led by police officers that teach children how to resist peer pressure and to live productive drug-free and violence-free lives. Erickson is working with about 300 fifth-graders in all of the North Platte elementary schools. According to Erickson, the program starts with teaching kids about the D.A.R.E. decision-making model to help them learn how to make good choices in difficult situations. In this case, D.A.R.E. stands for Define, Assess, Respond and Evaluate. Erickson said the assessment portion of the decision-making model challenges students to come up with three choices on how to respond to a situation. After learning about decision-making, students are then tested on their knowledge of drug abuse. While the perception is that "everybody does it," Erickson said just the opposite is true. "We try to stress that most of the kids don't smoke," Erickson said. He added the D.A.R.E. program tends to focus on what he calls "gateway drugs" such as alcohol, tobacco, marijuana and inhalants. These are the drugs that most kids experiment with which can lead to more serious addictions. Other topics covered in the D.A.R.E. curriculum include defining what makes a good friend, how to respond to peer pressure and how to get out and stay out of risky situations. During the nine-week program, students are provided a D.A.R.E. planner. At the end of the program, each student is asked to write a D.A.R.E. report about what they have learned. After completing the classroom lessons, students are asked to make a pledge to make wise decisions regarding alcohol and drugs. Students then receive a D.A.R.E. T-shirt during a special graduation ceremony. Erickson said he works with fifth-graders because he wants catch them early to help prepare them for the transition to middle school where peer pressure increases significantly. However, this is not the only age group involved in D.A.R.E. Officer Tim Dowhower, also a D.A.R.E. instructor, completed the program with 210 local seventh-graders in the first semester of the current school year. Prior to entering the D.A.R.E. program, officers undergo 80 hours of special training in areas such as child development, classroom management, teaching techniques and communication skills. So what do the students think of the D.A.R.E. program? "They seem to really respond to it," Erickson said. He added kids often approach their D.A.R.E. instructors years later with comments about how much they liked the program and how much they remember the lessons they learned. A study published by the Journal of the National Medical Association in 2002 showed that the D.A.R.E. curriculum is highly effective in the prevention of smoking among elementary school-aged children. The study found that students who completed the D.A.R.E. program were five times less likely to start smoking compared to youngsters who did not participate in the program. Researchers also found a correlation between knowledge regarding the risks of smoking and increased rates of smoking avoidance. The D.A.R.E. students had a significantly higher knowledge score regarding the risk of smoking. To help reinforce the concepts taught in the D.A.R.E. program, the police department also sponsors an annual D.A.R.E. Day for graduates of the program. The daylong event includes games, prizes free food and special activities. While the materials used in the D.A.R.E. program are paid for by the city, Erickson said the T-shirts and D.A.R.E. Day are privately funded. Those wishing to contribute can contact Erickson at 535-6789 for more information. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom