KIDS ACCEPT DARE TO SAY NO TO DRUGS

The parents far out-numbered the students at Anne McClymont's first
graduation ceremony for Grade 6 students who completed the DARE (Drug Abuse
Resistance Education) program Thursday afternoon.

Moms and dads applauded loudly, as did the students, when about a dozen
chosen students from four classes read essays to explain what they learned
from the RCMP officers who taught the 17-week program.

What they learned about the DARE program, as most of the essays began, must
have reminded most of the adults in the room just how long ago it was since
they were in Grade 6, the height of innocence, strength and idealism. To
the 11- and 12-year-olds, words aren't just spoken and written, they are
lived and committed.

There is no coincidence that they are taught about drugs at this crucial
age, says Const. Dean Childs, the Kelowna Mountie in charge of the program.

These students will soon be packing off to high school where lives begin
veering in different chosen directions with new friends, optional classes,
optional sports and optional drugs.

This is their last chance to learn the tools to help them make decisions to
get through it. The course isn't to teach them to say no, it is to teach
them how and why they should say no. Some of their answers were not taught
in class.

"It's time to glorify keeping your body safe and clean and saying no to
drugs," declared Delaine Ammaturo. "I trust (the police) and my parents
more than kids who say it's OK to use drugs."

Some of the students used their own examples, such as the turmoils of a
young friend whose mother whirls in and out of her life, never committing
to the one thing her daughter demands.

Brett Johnston knows teens who smoke cigarettes and he hates it. "When they
were my age they said they would never smoke and now they are addicted," he
noted with a hint to the pressures awaiting them all.

Michael McKay issued an ultimatum, of sorts, to his own pals when he said:
"I hope my present friends will stay my friends by saying no to drugs."

Becky Talbott and Julia Norman wanted to set examples for other people,
especially Norman who has two younger brothers who will soon need her
example. But Talbott perhaps summed up all of the essays best, describing
all that a girl her age should have to consider and all that is at risk.

"I'm going to have a great life," she said. "To do this, I need to say no
to drugs."