With No State Funding For DARE Programs This Year, Alternatives Are Being Considered For The Future When news broke last year that the state was pulling all funding for the DARE anti-drug education program, Mechanicsburg and Carlisle school districts and the associated police departments said they were interested in continuing the program anyway. And so they did, with the departments reporting that they taught DARE classes through this school year on the strength of community donors and then absorbed the remainder of the cost. [continues 642 words]
They got the beer bong, the aerosol air freshener, the angry snowman T-shirt and the pacifiers. But when Clarence Watson held up the tube of lipstick parents had missed while searching a teen's bedroom for signs of drug use, their reaction made it obvious they hadn't gotten that. "This is actually a marijuana pipe," said Watson, demonstrating how the tube could transition from cosmetic aid to illicit paraphernalia. An audible "Oh dang" emanated from the audience, followed soon by an "Oh man" as Watson deftly revealed a similar pipe inside a fluorescent yellow highlighter. [continues 625 words]
