TEEN DRUG USE DOWN BY 19 PER CENT IN CANADA

This is just in, just received a copy of it via e-mail and it is
certainly a good indication that the work we are doing with the DARE
(Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program is working.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has released the 2005 Monitoring
the Future survey.

The proportion of students in Grades 8, 10 and 12 who use illicit
drugs continued to decline in 2005.

Over the past four years there has been a 19 per cent decrease in
teenage drug use. This is real progress, and although we cannot take
complete credit, there is no question that DARE is a key component of
the efforts made to achieve these results. Bottom line: there are now
670,000 fewer teens using drugs than there were in 2001.
Congratulations to all DARE officers for your dedication and
commitment to helping the nation's children resist drugs and violence!

Talking about DARE, I will be away soon to deliver the DARE training
to some RCMP members from the Atlantic region. This is my first time
training police to become DARE officers. I am looking forward to the
experience.

Upon my return I will start the DARE program in some of the schools in
the area. We are lucky in this district that we have now five members
trained as DARE officers. This means that several schools will receive
the program this year.

As a reminder here is a copy of the DARE curriculum and what we teach
students in the classroom.

Lesson 1: Purposes and Overview of DARE Program

Students are introduced to the DARE program and the DARE
Decision-making Model. Students practice skills used in
decision-making.

Lesson 2: Tobacco and You

This lesson focuses on normative beliefs about the use of tobacco by
youth. Tobacco facts are used to design tobacco-warning labels, which
are shared with the class.

Lesson 3: Smoke Screen

Students apply tobacco and marijuana facts in a variety of situations
using the DARE Decision-making Model. Students are introduced to the
purpose of advertising.

Lesson 4: Alcohol and You

Students work through a normative belief activity about the use of
alcohol by youth. Decision-making skills are reinforced as students
work together solving a variety of situations.

Lesson 5: The Real Truth

Students are given the opportunity to examine alcohol ads in their
environment and apply their learning in a relay race. Inhalants and
their danger are examined.

Lesson 6: Friendship Foundations

In teams, students examine friendship and peer pressure in situational
dilemmas using the DARE Decision-making Model.

Lesson 7: Putting It Together

Students work with partners to apply assertiveness skills in a
think/pair/share methodology.

Lesson 8: Personal Action

Student teams practice decision-making skills as they examine the role
of personal peer pressure in their lives.

Lesson 9: Practice! Practice! Practice!

Students have the opportunity to apply assertive refusal skills along
with facts in a spiralling competition.

Lesson 10: Culmination

Students are given the opportunity to make a public statement about
their choices to resist drugs and violence in a group assembly.
Students receive DARE graduation certificates and celebrate their
accomplishments.