DRUG EDUCATION IN OUR SCHOOLS

I will never forget my sixth grade graduation from the Drug Abuse
Resistance Education (DARE) program.

I will never forget how big a deal it was to my parents. They
scheduled out their entire day, canceled all their appointments and
disregarded all their work so that they could attend the ceremony and
watch me obtain my diploma.

I will never forget how proud they looked when I recited my essay
about bad decision-making to the entire student body.

I will never forget how excited my class got every Thursday. Perhaps,
it was the idea of getting out of social science for an hour, but
everyone seemed so eager when the DARE officer entered the door and
taught us about the danger of gateway drugs.

These are things that I have always remembered.

People question the effectiveness of drug education in America, but
those memories are still there. Those images of car crashes, those
horrible testimonies, that final pledge to stay drug free - I haven't
forgotten any of it. I don't think my classmates have either.

Perhaps, the problem isn't lack of education. Maybe, it's other
influences that compete for our attention - like peer pressure or the
need to fit in - that prevent the modern teenager from acting on his education.

Every other year, my school participates in a program called Every
Fifteen Minutes. Throughout the day students are pulled out of class
and declared dead from an alcohol-related accident.

There's also a simulated car crash. There are victims, survivors and
one drunk driver.

Not everyone takes the message to heart. We have to do more than just
hear the lessons. We have to learn from them. And teachers can't do
that for us.

Programs like DARE and Every Fifteen Minutes do help. They give us
the knowledge we need, but it's our choice what we do with it.

And even if these programs only touch one person, they're worth it
and they've definitely touched me.