DARE LIES ABOUT MARIJUANA

I wish to thank the Ashland Police Department and its new chief for having
an open house on Sunday, May 7. It's refreshing going to a police station
knowing full well you can leave. I was so impressed with all the trappings
and especially all the officers' friendly demeanor. That too is refreshing.
When entering the station one could not miss the huge DARE display and of
course, I couldn't either. One need not look far to see what drug education
has come to in this country. The tables were filled with pencils, rulers,
buttons, bumper stickers, drug displays, and the list goes on. As I read
some of the literature, with great curiosity, I noticed that the same old
propaganda is still in the bowels of this great beast called DARE. The
outright lies and misinformation about marijuana in these books is
criminal. Even I, a consumer of cannabis for 31 years and an extremely
informed individual, am shocked at what the DARE program says about
marijuana. This same propaganda goes back to the 1930s and 1940s. It wasn't
true then and most certainly isn't now.

While reading the literature at the table, one could not miss the
iridescent green flyer on Ashland's DARE program. Established in 1991, the
total number of graduates is impressive (6,785). One might think that this
program has a huge faculty funded by alumni, benefactors and a huge
endowment from The National Education Commission. But this tax funded ($700
million a year "and counting" program) is and will now be the answer to any
drug use among school age children. The only government funded, peer
reviewed, long term study done by the Research Triangle Institute, clearly
and convincingly states that DARE does not have any influence on children's
attitudes toward drugs. Eighty-five percent of Massachusetts teenagers say
marijuana is easy to obtain and over half will try it before they graduate
from high school. Rational drug education and control polices begin with
honesty and scientific knowledge.

Towns across this great land have reconsidered the DARE program and have
decided to opt out. The Big Dig of drug education known as DARE will
someday be a fleeting memory right here in Massachusetts, but until then,
groups of people like NORML will champion the truth about marijuana, this
Saturday on the Common in Framingham.

James M. Pillsbury
Metrowest NORML
Framingham