DISPUTING THE MERITS OF DARE PROGRAM

Dear editor,

Re: New RCMP position brings back DARE (which appeared in the Nov. 19
edition of the Parklander).

As a federal medical marijuana license holder who is also married to
one, I consider DARE nothing short of hate propaganda on par with
holocaust denial. Drug use is a health issue and we should have nurses
instructing kids about them, not cops. Sending in a cop to talk to
kids about drugs is like sending in a priest to teach them about sex;
"Just don't do it, mister, or you'll be in big trouble."

Also, the fact that taxpayers' dollars are used for this fear and
fealty campaign is sick and reprehensible in the extreme. It should be
illegal to go into schools and deliberately frighten and mislead kids,
but no, we use taxpayers' dollars to send cops in to do it. It isn't
just irresponsible, it is obscene.

DARE uses non-factual information, they foster resentment towards drug
users, they monger fear and spin things with balderdash. They downplay
marijuana's well-documented medicinal values, exaggerate it's supposed
dangers and put forth out-dated junk science as fact.

Some studies even show that the DARE program increases drug use. Don't
believe me?

Since DARE started back in the 1980s, pot use among Canadian teens has
quadrupled.

The only good DARE has ever done is make millions of kids realize that
cops are incapable of telling the truth when it comes to drugs. As
soon as they hear all this 'One joint and you are hooked for life'
reefer madness, they go check the Internet, and realize that they have
been systematically lied to.

In that way the police completely undermine their own credibility,
fostering even more resentment towards authority.

If only DARE would temper its "say no or else" message with some
actual scientific truth, it might be worth saving. As it is, it should
be outlawed.

For those keen on teaching kids about drugs without all the
hypocritical balderdash of the DARE program, I recommend Educators For
Sensible Drug Policy, www.efsdp.org.

Russell Barth

Patients Against Ignorance and Discrimination on Cannabis (PAIDOC)

Ottawa