BRING D.A.R.E. BACK

My childhood friend, Sarah grew up in a sea coast town which is a suburb of
Boston. An upper-middle class town with a good school system, movie
theater, bowling allies, youth and church groups. Sarah belonged to the
Rainbow Girls Religious Society, junior and high school track team and was
an honor roll student. Our school system did not have a D.A.R.E. (Drug
Abuse Resistance Education) program. Kids had to learn for themselves about
drugs and alcohol. Some of us made the right choice but unfortunately my
friend did not.

Sarah started hanging out at the beach wall with the wrong crowd. First a
few beers, then marijuana and eventually pills.

She made it through high school and somehow pulled the grades to make it
through nursing school. At my high school reunion, I was looking throughout
the crowd to see if I could find my childhood friend. I had hoped that in
college, she had realized her mistakes and had now made the right choice to
say no to drugs. Another buddy of mine, greeted me with a hug and asked me
had I heard what had happened to Sarah. What she told me brought tears to
my eyes. Sarah had become a registered nurse and had been working in a
hospital. She was caught stealing drugs from the hospital and had lost her
nursing license. In her dark despair, she had committed suicide. She was 25
years old.

Twenty years later, I am still crying as I write this letter and I fear
that the same bad choices are being made everyday by Braintree youths. In
June of 2003, Officer Bill Cleggett retired from the Braintree Police
Department and the children of Braintree lost the best D.A.R.E. officer
that this town has ever seen. My daughter was fortunate to be a part of the
last graduating D.A.R.E. class in Braintree.

To this day, she and all of her friends who listened attentively to Officer
Cleggett's lessons and personal stories have continued to make the right
choices.

President George W. Bush has declared April 14 as National D.A.R.E. Day.
Two years have now gone by without a D.A.R.E. program in Braintree. The
selectmen and the Braintree Police Department have stated that, due to
budget constraints, they are unable to fill this need.

If you attended the recent Norfolk County Sheriff's lecture on heroin
abuse, there is a need in this town for drug education. An important matter
as this, should not be tied up in knots because of a union contract. If we
can get help from other law officials, the police department should
"welcome" them into our town and school system. Do not let another child
take his or her own life because of drugs.

Nicki Shaban