D.A.R.E.ING TO MAKE WISE CHOICES

For Another Year A Group Of Local Students Have Graduated From
D.A.R.E.

The Drug Resistance Education program is sponsored and taught by
members of the local RCMP detachment. Its goal is to make youth more
aware of the dangers of drug abuse that surrounds them and to offer
them the tools to make healthy choices in their lives.

This year student in Grade 5 from Collettville and Diamond Vale
successfully completed the course and received their T-shirts and
certificates.

"Please be aware that although you have all successfully completed the
DARE program, the real test is yet to come," explained Corporal Andrew
Burton, the instructor for the Diamond Vale class. "There will be
times in the not too distant future when you find yourself in
situations where drugs and alcohol are present and you will need to
recall you DARE lessons and use your common sense to make the right
choices. All of you sitting here today have the tools to make those
right choices and I have every confidence as your DARE officer that
you will be successful."

Diamond Vale's principal, Don Jones said the DARE program has proven
to be a good tool for students in the past, and that is the reason
they continue to participate. He stressed to the students the
importance of using the tools they have been given to make wise
choices in life.

Collettville's principal, MJ Bedard said it is important to teach the
students prevention when it comes to drug awareness.

"It is better to teach them now when they are young how to avoid
certain situations, rather than later when peer pressure kicks in and
it becomes more difficult," she said.

The DARE program lasts nine weeks and first started by the Los Angeles
Police Department in 1983. It teaches students how to use the decision
making model to solve problems, how to make healthy decisions, facts
about tobacco, marijuana and alcohol, different ways to effectively
deal with peer pressure and ways to be in charge.