TOSSING DARE PROGRAM JEOPARDIZES YOUNG LIVES

To the Editor of The Day:

The DARE Program shouldn't be cut from the Ledyard Education Budget.
When children know what drugs and violence can do to people, they
have that knowledge to carry with them for the rest of their lives.
If the Ledyard school system did not have DARE, think of the things
that could happen in our community -- more violence, more of a chance
that children might try drugs or gangs. Is this the kind of town you
want your children to grow up in?

In DARE, you learn not only about the dangers of using drugs but also
self-esteem. Self-esteem plays a big part of whether or not you use
drugs. Your self-esteem is like a big balloon. If you feel good about
yourself, it is like filling the balloon up with air. When you put
yourself down or say negative thing about yourself, you are letting
air out of that balloon. If you have low self-esteem, you are more
likely to use drugs.

You also learn how to say no to drugs in the DARE program. This is
very important because as children get older, their peers will
influence them more and more. They need to know how to stay away from
"the wrong people" (drug users).

Officer Liz, the DARE officer, is not just a person to teach you
about drugs, she is also a mentor and a friend. You can trust her
with your problems. For example, in each fifth grade classroom, there
is a DARE box where you can leave a note for Officer Liz about a
problem you have or something great that happened to you. Anything
that you put in the DARE box is confidential, unless you don't want
it to be.

Drugs hurt you. They can cause children to have low self-esteem, drop
out of school, get bad grades, steal, commit violence and even to
die. If you think cutting the DARE program would be better for the
budget, think what it would mean in terms of young people. You can't
put a price on life, so I urge all of the Town Council members to
vote no on discontinuing the DARE program. The children in our
community need your helping preventing drug use.

Melissa Standish,
Gales Ferry