Pubdate: Fri, 08 Jun 2007 Source: Chief, The (CN BC) Copyright: 2007 Whistler Printing & Publishing Contact: http://www.squamishchief.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2414 Author: Russell Barth DARE TO DISSENT Editor, RE: Youth Awareness Campaigner Honoured (Chief, June 1), as much as I applaud anyone's efforts to keep kids off of drugs, we have to admit that D.A.R.E. is probably worse than no program at all. Don't believe me? Compare the teen marijuana use rates from 1990 and 2005. Or compare Canada's teen pot use rate today to that of the Netherlands (about half as many Dutch teens use pot as Canadian teens). As a Canadian Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder who is also married to one, I deeply resent D.A.R.E.'s non-factual information and "all use is abuse" attitude they have towards marijuana. D.A.R.E. is the police's fear and fealty propaganda campaign, and the fact that they aim these lies at kids is particularly evil. When one considers that junk food will kill many times more Canadians than all illegal drugs combined, it is difficult to think of drugs as the "epidemic" that the media, government, churches and police have hyped them into. In fact, we should be teaching kids how to "Say No" to sugar instead. D.A.R.E. has proven, in many areas, to actually increase drug use. It could be because, as soon as kids realize that adults have been, at best, exaggerating, and at worst, deliberately misleading them, they will likely conclude that if adults lie about marijuana, they must be lying about everything else too. And who can blame them? We all live in a "drug culture" that glamourizes sex, power, fun, thrills, youth, wealth, law-scoffing and risk-taking. Drugs of all kinds are all over TV and around us in public - they are the cornerstone of our consumerism society. Then we tell kids not to do drugs?! As long as we advertise fast food, fast cars, violent movies and video games, beer, and Viagra during sporting events, adults are doomed to being hypocrites when it comes to drug education. And since we know for a fact that prohibition is doing far more damage to users and society than the drugs themselves ever could, who or what exactly, are the police and government trying to protect? Their budgets? The gangsters' profits? For those keen on educating kids about drugs without all the fear-mongering, hyperbole, and absurd hypocrisy of the standard "drug education" programs like D.A.R.E., I recommend the Educators For Sensible Drug Policy website at www.efsdp.org. Russell Barth, Ottawa - --- MAP posted-by: Derek