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DARE's success by Carol C. Bodofsky

Your April 28 article "Doubt cast on DARE program" highlighted a government
study which found that the program has not reduced drug use among the young.
My daughter and her friends have participated in the program in Edison and
have benefited in many ways. They have an awareness of the dangers of drugs
and have gained greater selfesteem, the ability to resist peer pressure,
skill in thinking for themselves and trust in police.

Without this program, we might very well see a skyrocketing number of
teenage drug users. Confiscating drugs and incarcerating offenders will not
make the drug problem go away. The only way to do that is to teach our
children to believe in themselves and empower them to face the world and its
problems. I have seen the effects of the DARE program close up. Based on a
national average, its results may not be significant. On a onetoone basis,
it is working. And that is the way we need to face the problem of drug
abuse one to one, one step at a time!

Carol C. Bodofsky, Edison