CHILDREN D.A.R.E. NO TOLERANCE

West Van kids taught to reject drugs, booze, cigs...

CONSTABLE Harry McNeil is the quintessential good cop.

He's got an easy, likeable way about him and comes across as nothing but
honest. The West Vancouver police officer is the perfect D.A.R.E. (Drug
Abuse Resistance Education) instructor. The kids like him.

The D.A.R.E. program began in the Los Angeles Unified School District in
1983 as a partnership between the school district and the L.A. Police
Department. In the U.S., approximately 75% of school districts support it as
a standard drug education program. It is taught in 47 countries throughout
the world.

The program teaches students how to recognize and resist peer pressure to
try illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco. There are no grey areas: the message
is zero tolerance regarding the use of any of the substances.

The D.A.R.E. curriculum was designed by academics to be taught by police
officers. Before entering the D.A.R.E. program, officers take 80 hours of
special training in areas including child development, classroom management,
teaching techniques and communication skills. An additional 40 hours of
training is required for a D.A.R.E. officer to teach the junior high
curriculum and another 40 hours are needed to teach the senior high
curriculum.

The core curriculum targets children in grades 5 and 6. One lesson a week is
taught over a period of 17 weeks.

D.A.R.E. came to West Vancouver school district in 1995. It's an expensive
program, taking somewhere in the neighborhood of $300,000 a year from the
$5.5 million West Vancouver Police budget. The police like it and the
community seems to support it. The West Vancouver Foundation sponsors
D.A.R.E. and in 1996 raised $25,000 for the program at a gala event.

McNeil, and fellow D.A.R.E. officers Const. Ian Craibe and Const. Rick
Catlin dedicate 28 hours a week to the school program. Sgt. Jim Almas puts
in approximately two hours a week.

As of this year, Const. Paul Skelton has been teaching the program three
hours a week at North Vancouver's Norgate community school. Many of the
school's students come from the Squamish Nation reserve. For the rest of
North Vancouver's schools, the drug awareness program of choice is the
RCMP's PACE (Police Assisting Community Education) program.

PACE is a drug education package for grades 5 through 9, and is meant to
foster the relationship between the police and young people within the
community. It supplements other classroom activity focused on drug
prevention.

The popular D.A.R.E. program is not without controversy. Studies abound
supporting its efficacy. Early D.A.R.E. evaluations (1987-1989) in the U.S.
were generally favorable, showing decreased alcohol, tobacco and other drug
use, an increased resistance to drug use and an increase in self-esteem.

But over recent years questions and criticisms have surfaced about the
merits of D.A.R.E.

A U.S. Justice Department-sponsored study by the Research Triangle Institute
notes D.A.R.E. has a "limited to essentially nonexistent effect on drug
use."

The U.S. General Accounting Office reports, "There is little evidence so far
that D.A.R.E. and other 'resistance training' programs have reduced the use
of drugs by adolescents."

West Vancouver Police stand by the anecdotal evidence, convinced that
D.A.R.E. is a positive force in the community.

McNeil said that the police department is looking at D.A.R.E. programs in
other jurisdictions that have been able to quantify the success of D.A.R.E.

"We'll be picking one this summer and we'll be putting it into effect this
school year to measure the success rate of the program -- not only by
smiles, we can also take a look at numbers. Numbers seem to carry weight,"
he said.

It's a Friday morning in May. McNeil walks into the classroom at St.
Anthony's Catholic private school on Keith Road. Fourteen Grade 7 students
are gathered in a classroom ready for the second one-hour D.A.R.E. lesson of
the week.

Decorative native dream catchers hang from the ceiling. On one wall there's
a poster of John Paul II in prayer. A D.A.R.E. poster brightens a door.
"D.A.R.E. to lead," it says. It shows some penguins on an ice float. One
jumps off, ahead of the pack.

The kids are neat and polite. The class stands and says good morning to
McNeil as he joins them.

"What day is it today?" he asks. "It's D.A.R.E. Day!" they shout back
fervently.

And then it's D.A.R.E. box time. McNeil responds to questions left by the
children. He uses the D.A.R.E. session to talk about more than substance
abuse. He does not shy away from broader issues of crime and punishment --
law, victims, the role of police in the community.

A note from the box: "What's the difference between a policeman in the U.S.
and in Canada?"

McNeil tells them it's more conservative in Canada and that there is more
violence and poverty to contend with in the States. "In Canada we don't have
ghettos. We have street people here but street people choose to be street
people. With drug abuse (in Canada) a lot of kids are wondering what it's
all about.

"They're not using drugs to to escape life in a ghetto where life is really
crummy. Life is pretty good here in West Vancouver."

The class watches a D.A.R.E. video. They see a cartoon character with a
joint in hand and a goofy look on his face standing in the middle of
traffic.

Jose and Sandy are accosted by a guy who offers crack, cocaine, speed, acid,
crystal and crank. The cartoon druggies have green skin and bad teeth.

McNeil tells the kids that marijuana is a "gateway" drug. "If you were to
try it you might like it, but it isn't worth the gamble. There is no good
time to try marijuana," McNeil says.

The constable reviews some homework. McNeil asks one boy if he can talk
about the possible risk of long-term tobacco use.

He asks another what the possible risk might be of using marijuana once. The
boy responds, saying he could be expelled from school and find trouble with
his parents and the police.

Another is asked about the possible risk of using cocaine. The child answers
quickly: paranoia.

While zero tolerance remains the operative concept, McNeil acknowledges that
some children will come into class with different information. What if some
child had heard that marijuana has some beneficial uses for glaucoma and
pain relief? How would he address such thinking?

Said McNeil: "We have to recognize that it is being used in some places for
cases where people have terminal cancer. In a Grade 5 class we're not there
to discuss terminal cancer. There are synthetic drugs that are on the market
that will give the same relief and they don't have the side effects that
marijuana has, like the THC, the side effects the body suffers from that. It
might reduce nausea but it might invoke other things. It's (marijuana) is an
option, but in our view it's not a positive option."

Beyond the world of the D.A.R.E. classroom there are other opinions on
alcohol, tobacco and drugs. And they are often espoused by those in trust.

Said McNeil, "I think children put a lot of weight on what mom and dad say,
what they hear on television.

"If we go through the complete program and they choose to take the material
from the program and examine it closely they will come out with the
conclusion that cigarettes are bad for you, that drinking at a young age is
not healthy, that marijuana use isn't healthy for you. They'll come up with
those conclusions.

"But now whether or not they will be influenced after the program by someone
to use the drugs is a different thing altogether. They do know the
consequences, they do know the outcome, they inevitably are the ones who are
going to be making the choices as to what they are going to do."

If a child in class had parents who were quite open about their own use of
marijuana, for example, McNeil said he would cite studies to show that the
drug is harmful. "More than that, it is illegal, so therefore we couldn't
condone the use of it anyway. Even if they changed the laws tomorrow on
everything that we're doing in the classroom, we wouldn't change what we're
saying. We're not there pushing the legal, we're there talking about the
health factor," he said.

McNeil has been teaching the program for three years. He loves it.

"It's phenomenal, the reason being that it's warm and fuzzy, but it has
direction. It's presenting a program where the children have fun and they
learn. At the graduation they're emotional, they're so excited. And there
are others who really want to get this message across because they've had
loved ones who have died from cancer, loved ones that are alcoholics.

"It allows them to speak out and say how they really feel inside."

West Vancouver's first D.A.R.E. class is now in Grade 8. It's a critical
year for temptation.

Three of the West Vancouver D.A.R.E. officers are certified for middle
school. They presented the middle school program at the Grade 7 level and
then finished it off this year at the Grade 8 level.

As of yet, there is no objective yardstick for measuring the success of the
program. "We don't really know the true outcome other than the positiveness
of the teachers and the children," said McNeil.

Although D.A.R.E. is now taught worldwide McNeil says the content of the
program has not been altered to address cultural differences.

"The program is designed that it only talks about straight facts. Whether
you're a little Asian boy, a little African boy or a little Canadian boy,
alcohol is going to affect you at the age of 11, and marijuana or cigarettes
will affect you at age 11.

"We do open the classes up to any parents to come in and sit through any
lessons they want. And with the parents we will discuss any of the theory
behind D.A.R.E."

Participation in the D.A.R.E. program is not mandatory. But said McNeil,
"Nobody has opted out. The kids really enjoy it. It's not a put-down
program, it's a lift up.

"We teach them problem solving, self-awareness, self-esteem and we reinforce
probably everything their parents are saying at home."

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst