KIDS D.A.R.E. TO BE GREAT

Drug Abuse Resistance Education has been taught in Grosse Ile schools since
1993 and has graduated approximately 150 students per year. Although the
curriculum has changed, the primary emphasis is for students to recognize
and resist the temptations to do drugs.

"We focus on a variety of different principals: decision-making,
consequences, building strong friendships and confidence, to name a few,"
said Detective Kenneth Pelland, who runs the program for the Grosse Ile
Police Department. "There are 10 lessons in the D.A.R.E. curriculum,
however I expand the program by adding a high school role model lesson."

Since the program was started on Grosse Ile, the drug surveys in the school
have shown a significant drop in usage for those students that participated
in D.A.R.E., according to Pelland.

"This is evidence that the program works here," he said. "Plus, the
D.A.R.E. instructor is able to build bonds with the students and school
staff. D.A.R.E. is the most rewarding part of my job."

Each student had to write a report about what he or she had learned in the
program. During graduation ceremonies at the two elementary schools, a few
of the students had the opportunity to read their essays.

The following are the essays that were read during the ceremonies at both
Meridian and Parke Lane elementary schools.

Editor's note: Only one of the essays appeared in the paper. The rest are
available at http://www.ilecamera.com/stories/021006/loc_20060210007.shtml

My D.A.R.E. Report

By Alexandra Santori, Meridian

I learned in D.A.R.E. that trying drugs is bad for you and your body. If
you try drugs, you will have side effects like feeling dizzy and out of
control. You can also get hurt by trying tobacco, especially if you are
under age, because your body is just developing. If somebody asks you to
try drugs, they are not your friend, and you should just say no.

D.A.R.E. taught me that inhalants, alcohol, marijuana, and tobacco all
affect your body in different ways. All of these drugs can affect your
brain, mouth, throat, lungs, heart and liver. The addiction you can develop
will cause problems for not just you, but your friends and family too.

I saw how smoking hurt my papa and the cancer he got from it. First they
took out his voice box and he couldn't talk to me without covering the
permanent hole left in his throat. Then the cancer spread to his lungs and
they had to cut part of his lungs out. The cancer then spread through his
body and he was in a lot of pain until he died just after Christmas.

People that are addicted to drugs often spend all their money on drugs. You
can't support yourself or family when you are addicted to these drugs.
Often drugs lead to violence.

People on drugs harm others because they are not thinking straight and also
commit crimes to get more drug money to support their addiction. Jails are
filled with people who were once good people that just messed up on drugs.
They can spend a long time, if not their whole life, in prison because of
their bad choice.

I commit not to ever smoke or do drugs. My answer would be NO to anyone who
asked me if I wanted a cigarette that costs too much money or a puff of a
marijuana cigarette. I love myself and my family too much to give either up
to drugs.

I would like to have as healthy a life as possible. I chose not to have a
habit of smoking, smell bad/have yellow teeth, or worse, die a painful death.

[snip]