IN REPLY TO "DARE PROGRAM IN JEOPARDY"

As much as I applaud anyone's efforts to keep kids off of drugs, we
have to admit that DARE 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 Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder who is also married to
one, I deeply resent DARE's non-factual information and "all use is
abuse" attitude they have towards marijuana.

When one considers that junk food will kill many times more Canadians
than all illegal drugs combined, it is difficult to think of any drug
as the "epidemic" that the media, government, and police have hyped
them into. Maybe we should be teaching kids how to "Say No" to sugar
instead.

The DARE program is the police's fear propaganda campaign, and the
fact that they aim these lies and fear mongering at kids is
particularly evil.

DARE 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
glamorizes sex, power, fun, thrills, and risk-taking! Drugs of all
kinds are all over TV and around us in public - it is the cornerstone
of our consumerism society! Then we tell kids not to do drugs?!

As long as we advertise beer and Viagra during Hockey Night In Canada,
we are doomed to being hypocrites when it comes to drug education.

For those keen on educating kids about drugs - without all the fear
mongering, hyperbole, and absurd hypocrisy of the standard "drug
education" programs like DARE - I recommend the Educators For Sensible
Drug Policy website at www.efsdp.org.

RUSSELL BARTH

Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder

Ottawa, Ont.