ANTI-DRUG BUG BUZZES FOR COUNTY

From flexing muscle to bugs and hugs, Oklahoma County's DARE anti-drug
program hopes to change attitudes among schoolchildren, Sheriff John
Whetsel said.

The change started in October when Whetsel used $19,000 in drug asset
forfeiture money to buy a 1999 Volkswagen New Beetle to promote his
department's Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

Whetsel said he was told it would take a year to get one of the new Bugs
delivered to his department.

"But when corporate headquarters at Volkswagen found out what we were going
to use it for, they got it to us within 45 days," Whetsel said.

He said Volkswagen officials also asked him if they could come and take
pictures of it for a national advertising campaign.

"We're the first department in the country to use a Bug as a DARE car,"
Whetsel said.

DARE programs all over the country have used "muscle cars" to get
schoolchildren's attention and show them they can have power and resist drugs.

But Whetsel said, "We want to give them a new message that's a change from
speed and powerful cars to one that is fun. We want to tell them you can
have fun without drugs."

The logo on the black Volkswagen reads "Bugs and Hugs, Not Drugs."

"It has gone over well with young people," Whetsel said.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff's Department has collected $60,000 in drug
asset forfeiture money in the past 11 months.

The department is waiting for an additional $150,000.

Whetsel said DARE is one way of using money seized from drug abusers to put
them out of business.