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