GRAHAM HONOURED ONCE AGAIN FOR DARE

Park resident one of 30 receiving Gov. Gen. award

Seeing his home community raise over $100,000 for the DARE program was
wonderful, says the retired RCMP officer often credited with getting the
program going provincially and nationally.

Retired Sgt. Kevin Graham says that feat proves DARE is valuable to the
community.

"I just think it's great. Here's an example that the program is strong
enough to keep on going even when others have left. The program continues on
because of its own merit, not just because of one person," he said.

"The program is strong; the community wants it and the community has
demanded it in the sense that they're supporting it still."

In the last several years of his career, DARE had practically become his
working life, criss-crossing the province and the nation getting programs
set up in various communities. He used his own time to raise money so that
the program could keep going. It's why he's often considered to have started
the program in Canada.

And it's why Graham is one of 30 people who will be awarded the Governor
General's Meritorious Service Medal.

But it shouldn't go just to him, he says. There were so many others who were
part of developing DARE, from the 700 officers in Canada who teach the
program, to politicians like Iris Evans, David Kilgour, and Lois Hole who
gave their support to the program, and to RCMP officers like Kevin McDonald,
Lea Turner, and Wayne Oakes who got him involved in DARE in the first place.

"I was one part of the puzzle. I'm the one being recognized but I receive
that on their behalf," said Graham.

In 1995, after McDonald, Turner and Oakes had received training to be DARE
instructors from Edmonton city police, they went to Graham who was the
coordinator of drug education in the province at the time and asked for his
support in getting the program to go province-wide.

Seeing their enthusiasm, he jumped at the chance and took it a step further
to take it nation-wide.

DARE works, he says. While Graham is realistic in his views that it won't
stop every kid from doing drugs, he notes drug education can give kids the
tools to be able to handle peer pressure and resist getting hooked.

"That education helps the student push back the experimentation date in
their life. If a child moves from 14 to 19 before they experiment they feel,
and it's been shown, that the 19-year-old will experiment but they won't
continue."

DARE is just one of the many tools that can be used for drug education, says
Graham. But what makes DARE special is that officers come into the classroom
over a long period of time and develop relationships with the kids. That's
what the kids really remember, says Graham, and he should know as his own
daughter, Sarah, went through DARE.

"She enjoyed the program immensely and she remembers even today the name of
her DARE officer. They had that much effect."

Having been retired for two years now, Graham's contact with DARE has
diminished, although DARE America still calls him up and asks him for
advice. As he's no longer actively involved with DARE, he was surprised he
was being honoured for his work.

"I was dumbfounded, to be quite honest with you, because I've been out of
the program now a couple of years."

A date for the Governor General's Meritorious Service awards has not been
set.