PROGRAM SHOULD BE OUTLAWED

RE: DARE program valuable (The News, Oct. 23)

As a Federal Medical Marijuana License Holder who is also married to
one, I consider DARE nothing short of hate propaganda.

Drug use is a health issue and we should have nurse instructing kids
about them, not cops. Sending in a cop to talk to kids about drugs is
like sending in a garbage man to teach them about sex.

Also, the fact that taxpayers' dollars are used for this fear and
fealty campaign is sick and reprehensible in the extreme.

It should be illegal to go into schools and deliberately frighten and
mislead kids, but no, we use taxpayers' dollars to send kids in to do
it. It isn't just irresponsible, it is obscene!

DARE uses non-factual information, they foster resentment towards drug
users, they monger fear, and spin things with balderdash. They tell
kids that marijuana has no medicinal value, exaggerate it's supposed
dangers and use out-dated junk science as fact.

It might not be so bad if DARE actually worked, but some studies even
show that the DARE program increases drug use! Don't believe me? Since
DARE started back in the 1980s, pot use among teens has quadrupled!

The only good DARE has ever done is make millions of kids realize that
cops are incapable of telling the truth when it comes to drugs. As
soon as they hear all this "One joint and you are hooked for life"
reefer madness, they go check google, and realize that they have been
systematically lied to.

In that way the police completely undermine their own credibility,
fostering even more resentment towards authority. Pretty smart, officer.

If only DARE would temper its say no or else message with some actual
scientific truth, it might be worth saving. As it is, it should be
outlawed.

Russell Barth

Ottawa