RCMP HOPE TO IMPLEMENT DARE PROGRAM

RCMP Corporal Jim Wong wants to give upper-elementary students a challenge.
More accurately, he wants to give them a DARE.

Come this fall he will be DAREing the students of Wheatland County to say no
to drugs and alcohol.

The program is called Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) and Wong has
been trained to teach it. He wants to begin to implement it in the fall of
the coming school year.

"I'm really excited about the program," said Wong.

"It motivates me because it's for the kids," he added.

As soon as arrangements are made with the school district the project can
begin. He is confident it will go through.

"This program is really, really strong in the United States in the
elementary classes," said Wong. He added that DARE began as a joint effort
between the Los Angeles Police Department and educators in the area in 1983.
It has since developed into an international program.

The program is made up of 17 lessons and is always taught by a uniformed law
officer. It targets students in grades five and six. The main objective of
the DARE program is to give students the tools to resist the peer pressure
to use drugs and alcohol that often begin to occur in junior high.

Wong emphasized that the transition from Elementary school to junior high
can be quite difficult.

"It's a scary move for a lot of the students -- It's a lot of change," said
Wong.

"What we do is try to get them ready."

Superintendent of Golden Hills Regional Division #15, Garry McKinnon, is in
favor of the program being implemented in Wheatland county.

"Our experience has been very positive in other schools such as Carbon and
Drumheller -- We strongly support the program," said McKinnon.