DARE TO "JUST SAY NO" TO DARE

To the Editor:

In the Nelson Daily News Friday, October 15th report on the Kaslo school's
planned Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, it was reported
that only a dozen parents attended an information session at J.V. Humphries
and that half of them were strongly opposed to the program. It was reported
that the parents opposed to the program were "pro-marijuana activists."

I attended that meeting and heard from parents that were disappointed about
the lack of consultation in the decision making process of implementing the
program. Parents were very concerned about the age of the children
participating, the urban American slant to the student workbook and the
fact that dozens of independent scientific studies have concluded that DARE
does not deliver on its promise to teach kids to resist drugs.

I did not hear any mention of marijuana legalization except from the RCMP
presenter. He said that there are only two kinds of people that take a
stand and speak out against DARE: those that are promoting their own
program and those that are "marijuana legalization activists."

I have heard this formula sales pitch a number of times from both US law
enforcement and RCMP DARE promoters. It seems as if they are trained to use
that argument to justify ignoring parents' concerns, or to discredit
scientific evaluations, or to make people think twice about questioning
DARE for fear they might be labeled a "pro- marijuana legalization
activist." We questioned; we were labeled. This aggressive marketing
strategy discourages a full and fair debate and attacks the character and
credibility of the parents of the children they are targeting with their
program.

There are other reasons to stand up and say no to DARE. We need a program
that works, one that is in step with our children and our Canadian
values. Furthermore, we need a process that does not alienate parents,
educators and children along the way.

Larry Moore