RCMP TRAIN TO EDUCATE YOUTH

Powell River RCMP Constable Carl McIntosh is used to having curious
kids ask him "What is the worst drug?" With a serious face, he always
tells them "The worst drug is the one you're either addicted to or
are subject to using."

McIntosh just got back from Chase, BC--about 50 kilometres east of
Kamloops--after a two-week training course on Drug Abuse Resistance
Education (DARE).

DARE is a comprehensive education program built to equip school
children with skills to recognize and resist social pressures to
experiment with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. The program
involves uniformed police officers teaching a formal curriculum in a
classroom setting. Special attention is given to students in grade
five and six to prepare them for high school and teenage years, where
they are most likely to face tough decisions surrounding peer
pressure and drugs.

McIntosh said police are seeing a decrease in drug supply to Powell
River thanks to targeted enforcement--identifying and actively
investigating known offenders--but the drug problem is far from over.

"Drugs and alcohol are still involved in the majority of offences we
deal with," he said, whether they involve persons under the influence
or desperate to get their hands on drugs and things they can trade for drugs.

"It's very difficult to take a learned behaviour and change it," he said.

That's where DARE comes in. "It's a lot easier to teach a child than
to repair an adult."

The acronym also serves as a code of conduct to help children and
teens deal with difficult choices when drugs are available: define,
assess, respond, evaluate. "We call it DARE squared," he said.

Above all, he hopes the program will steer children away from drugs
by dispelling myths around drug use. For example, a recent national
survey showed 80 per cent of grade eight students did not drink
alcohol. McIntosh feels such reminders could go a long way in the
fight against peer pressure.

Constable Kerri Chard is also trained to teach the program--nine
one-hour lessons and a one-hour graduation--and come September the
pair will be educating grade five students across the district.