Pubdate: Sun, 15 Dec 2013
Source: Alaska Highway News (CN BC)
Copyright: 2013 Glacier Interactive Media
Contact:  http://www.alaskahighwaynews.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/716
Author: Kate Mills

STUDENTS D.A.R.E. TO BE DRUG-FREE

Nipping a potential problem in the bud is what the D.A.R.E. (Drug
Abuse Resistance Education) program is all about.

Over the last ten weeks, Grade 5 and 6 students at Duncan Cran
Elementary School in Fort St. John learned about drugs and alcohol and
the many reasons and strategies to avoid them.

The students held a ceremony to commemorate their achievement of
graduating from the program on Wednesday.

Besides learning about the negative consequences of drugs and alcohol,
students were taught life skills about peer pressure, ways to say no
and decision-making. RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie taught the D.A.R.E.
program once a week for an hour to the Grade 5 and 6 students.

Shelkie said the reason D.A.R.E. is taught beginning in Grade 5 is
because national surveys have revealed that the first time the
majority of students are offered a drug in Canada is at the age of
12.

"Usually the first drug they're offered is a puff of somebody's
cigarette, or somebody offers them a drink of beer or wine," Shelkie
said.

She said the program tries to reach the students and give them the
tools they need to say no to drugs and alcohol the year before it
could potentially happen.

City Councillor Dan Davies, who is also a teacher of one of the
classes that took part in the D.A.R.E. program, said a number of the
students that participated would be off to middle school next year at
Dr. Kearney or Bert Bowes, and will be exposed to a different group of
people, where the likelihood of being introduced to drugs and alcohol
are increased.

Having the skills and knowledge taken from the D.A.R.E. program helps
the students to make good choices in the future, he said.

By many accounts, students took away some valuable insights. Grade 6
student Kaylene Farrell said one of the things she learned is how to
deal with stress from peer pressure.

"The easiest thing we learned is to take three deep breaths, count to
10, and say no and walk away," she said.

Another Grade 6 student, Tanika Armstrong, explained that if it
weren't for D.A.R.E., her future might not look so bright.

"I probably would have smoked in my future and drank a lot of alcohol,
and now I'm not going to do that, because I know what the effects
are," she said.

Davies said a lot of kids lean on their peers for answers and that's
not always the best place to get them, so having an educator such as
Shelkie speak about drugs and alcohol is very important.

"When you get someone ... from the RCMP who comes in and talks from
experience about things that she has seen - you know, the effects of
drugs, responding to calls to where there has been drugs or alcohol -
and to talk about all those side effects and consequences of those, it
has a powerful punch to the kids. It's important that they get the
facts on drugs, and alcohol and tobacco," he said.

Davies noted that having the message taught at school helps to correct
any mixed messages they may be getting at home.

12,000 students are taught the D.A.R.E. program each year in about 800
elementary and middle schools throughout the province.
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MAP posted-by: Matt