INTIMIDATION TACTICS

I find it incredible that a one-week training course that costs
several hundred dollars would in any way be compared to a four-year
education degree. Most educators receive many more hours of in
service training a year than a DARE officer receives through the entire course.

Here are the requirements for DARE Training:

You must be a police officer, neat in appearance, comfortable with
children, not be a substance abuser, and be able to work
unsupervised. Of course you also need a desire to be trained.

The cost of the course is about $500 dollars and takes about a week.

I have been on countless training courses. Most are about a week long
if they are intensive and have usually cost substantially more than
$500. I would never equate these short skill-training programs to a
university degree. There is no relation between the two.

However, who teaches the course is maybe less important than what is
taught. The fundamental problem with DARE program and other
abstention-based programs is that they fail to teach much of
anything. They teach kids to stand up to peers and resist pressure by
employing pressure tactics. You need to be a police officer to teach
the program because the uniform, badge and gun provide the intimidation.

Yes, you may not agree with my position, but I feel I am asking a
legitimate question. Why support a program that has been shown to
have no effect? We need real programs that have a real effect. I know
that is what I want for my four children.

Moe Brondum,

Saskatchewan Marijuana Party,

North Battleford, Sask.