DARE-ING KIDS THINK PROGRAM COULD SAVE THEIR LIVES

Eighteen students from Mt. Begbie Elementary School have dared to promise
never to take drugs.

Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) is a program that instructs young
people on the dangers of illicit drug use and for the past several weeks,
RCMP Const. David Gale has delivered this message during his free time to
the grade seven students of Mt. Begbie.

The effort has not been wasted.

"DARE will probably save my life," said Tessa Manners, one of the essay
winners at the graduation ceremony held last Thursday evening.

RCMP Staff Sgt. Randy Brown was on hand that night to congratulate the
young grads as he was instrumental in bringing the DARE program to the
country and the province in 1995.

"There is no silver bullet," Brown said considering the war on drugs. "But
a consistent program was needed."

"It (DARE) plants seeds and we know that through time the seeds will take
root. It develops a relationship between our office and students and the
community," said Brown.

The program encourages youth to stand up against negative peer pressure and
to make informed decisions that will affect their physical and emotional
health.

"I get to see in their handshakes that there is a lot of self-confidence
and a lot of self-esteem in these kids," Gale said after congratulating
each student with their certificate of achievement.

The class's teacher Mrs. Matsushita said that the program is "absolutely
pivotal."

Presently the statistic of Canadian children in grade seven that have been
drunk is 14 percent.

Matsushita said to the class, "This is your challenge: After making good
decisions influence others to lower the national average."