BITTERSWEET GRADUATION FOR DRUG-RESISTANCE CLASS

Students Still Need Cancelled Program, Educators Insist

Officer Stu choked back a few tears as he said goodbye to "his" budding
graduates from the podium in the gymnasium of a Rexdale middle school.

That's when it hit Constable Stewart Davidson that he won't be back to take
the next flock of Grade 6 students through the Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE) class at Greenholme Junior Middle School.

Despite vigorous and heartfelt advocacy on its behalf, the program has
fallen victim to a controversial report that says it is just not as
successful as officers, educators, parents, and students claim.

'I've taught in this area for the last 25 years, and this is the best
program I've worked on with the police. Why are we reinventing the wheel?'

- - Dorothy Whitehead Principal, Greenholme Junior Middle School

"I've taught in this area for the last 25 years, and this is the best
program I've worked on with the police," says Greenholme principal Dorothy
Whitehead. "Why are we reinventing the wheel?"

Kids who go through DARE are not only able to build the confidence to say
no to drugs, but learn that police are not the enemy, says DARE
vice-president and retired OPP officer Harry Lawrenson.

DARE was started in 1983 by 10 officers in the Los Angeles Police
Department. DARE Toronto began about four years ago as a 17-week program
that counsels kids on drug abuse, violence, gangs and peer pressure.

Uniformed officers spent one hour per week on paid duty conducting the
program. But last year Toronto police cancelled the DARE program.

According to deputy chief Michael Boyd, a report four years ago criticized
the efficiency of DARE, and caused the force to question the program.

The controversial report determined that the training only stayed with kids
for about 12 to 16 months. On that basis, Boyd says he questions if it's
wise to use taxpayers' money on it.

"I am in no way saying the DARE program isn't good. But there can be a
difference between whether a program is well liked and how effective it is."

To provide DARE training for kids in all the schools in 17 divisions, Boyd
says Toronto Police have to come up with 53 officers. Currently, they only
have 19.

To this point, DARE has only been offered in 23 Division - around
Etobicoke. Boyd says that although the instructors and the communities
become passionate about the program, he wants to find a way to make a
program like DARE available across the city.

Davidson says there's only "one bad report out there" and its results were
formed without input from parents, students, or instructors involved with DARE.

Davidson is the only reason that Greenholme students got their dose of DARE
this year. While visiting a Grade 5 class last year, he promised the kids
he would see them next year, so he taught classes on his days off until the
class ended last week.

Whitehead believes DARE may be critical to students at Greenholme, located
in Rexdale.

"When you think about it,this school, in this area, needs this (DARE) far
more than probably any other school in the outlying area in the Toronto
District School Board," said Whitehead, who's fighting to get DARE
reinstated at Greenholme.

After a shooting on Jamestown Cr., only metres from the school's front
door, left one man dead and two others critically injured last October,
police Chief Julian Fantino "issued a challenge to the public to help him
combat violence in (the) area," says Whitehead.

She and other DARE supporters presented a plan to the Police Services
Board, but the board hasn't committed to anything. Cost is an issue for
Toronto police just as it was for Peel police, who cancelled DARE in 1997.

Peel's then-chief, Robert Lunney, wanted to come up with a program that
could reach more schools. Reduce Abuse In Drugs (RAID) cut the 17-week DARE
model to only seven classes.

Two full-time officers on Peel's force can handle the RAID classes in about
60 schools; DARE only got to 27.

DARE is intended to be broken down into segments taught at appropriate
stages in a child's education, with emphasis on the 17-week course in Grade 6.

But even though Toronto police were only administering DARE at Grade 6,
officers and kids involved insist the benefits are lasting and worthwhile.

"I learned how to stay away from the gateway drugs and how to say no to
people who want me to smoke," says 11-year-old Camille Burke.

Her friend Amy Nokeo, also 11, adds that DARE "brought up my self-esteem.
I'm confident about saying 'No.' "

Lawrenson says he can spot the difference between high school kids who
graduated from DARE and those who didn't.

"I used to drive by the high school and the kids would wave at me, but it
was usually with one finger. Now it's all five waving," he says, beaming.