D.A.R.E. PROGRAM STILL ON CUTTING EDGE

Area Police Officers Teach Kids How And Why To Stay Off Drugs

First Of Two Parts

Nearly 20 years ago, former Los Angeles Police Chief Daryl Gates created a
program aimed at mitigating the drug and violence problems plaguing the
city's streets. D.A.R.E. - short for Drug Abuse Resistance Education -
spread like wildfire to more than 80 percent of American schools, including
sixth-grade classes in Cecil County.

Cecil County Public Schools adopted the program in 1991. Since its
inception, area police officers have spent numerous hours learning teaching
techniques by attending nationwide conferences and interacting with
students, all in an attempt to keep kids off drugs.

But does it work?

The Cecil Whig followed a sixth-grade class at Cherry Hill Middle School
through its "D.A.R.E. cycle" - a three-week period from Feb. 11 to March 4
in which the class spent an average of four hours per week under the
guidance of Cpl. Scott Adams of the Cecil County Sheriff's Office.

During that time, Adams taught the "core" D.A.R.E., a condensed program
targeted for fifth and sixth graders.

There are also national D.A.R.E. activities established for high school
students and elementary school-aged children. According to Adams, Cecil
does not currently have these programs due to time and budget restraints on
the part of both the schools and law enforcement officers.

The first day

Cecil County's D.A.R.E. classes include a 25-question multiple choice test.
The exam, which gauges students' knowledge of drug abuse, self- esteem and
violence, is administered before Adams greets the class, and again after
his lessons are through.

Along with the test, the children must author a D.A.R.E. essay to graduate
from the program.

The time between includes hands-on and cooperative learning. And although
the students take home a plethora of knowledge, Adams, too, learns about
Cecil County's youth and their relationship with drugs.

More than half of the sixth-grade class admitted they had never spoken with
their parents about drugs.

All of the children said they attained their knowledge about drugs and
violence from television. Close to one-fourth said books were another
informative source.

Most students thought they had seen a cigarette advertisement on
television, although these ads are banned.

None of the children raised their hands when Adams asked if someone had
offered them drugs. When he added that drugs include alcohol and tobacco,
one student changed her answer to yes.

And while Adams admits D.A.R.E. cannot keep all of its participants away
from substance abuse, he said it can help swing undecided students.

"I get to come in and talk to you before you have a problem," Adams told
the class on its first day of D.A.R.E. "I see both sides. Some of you will
never use drugs. I unfortunately see the other side of people that don't
listen, that use drugs, get caught with drugs and have to go through the
juvenile justice system. The worst part is to knock on the door and tell a
parent that their child overdosed on drugs. What I ask of you boys and
girls is that you not make me have to do that.

"Today, you can't say you didn't know drugs would hurt," he added. "You
will know what these drugs do to you. You will know the consequences."

Adams was blunt with the children - reality wasn't skirted. Within its
first few days, the program addressed the predictable: the types of drugs
and their effects. However, Adams also mentioned actions, such as injecting
heroin and mixing drugs with rat poison and baby formula, that elicited a
chorus of, "Eww," from the students.

The class always reviewed the previous lecture as well.

"Depressants make you slow down in school," sixth-grade student Josh
reiterated as he shared his knowledge on the second day of D.A.R.E. "You
can't concentrate and stuff. If you have a quiz, you might not be able to
finish it."

"If your heart goes too fast, it can overwork itself," fellow classmate
Scott said about stimulants.

Stimulants and depressants were included in the prior class discussion.
Both boys did not know what hallucinogens or inhalants were until Adams
talked about their dangers during the following lesson.

These are topics that most sixth graders are oblivious to but will become a
part of their daily lives once they reach high school.

Learning is fun

Experiments liven up the environment. Adams attends national D.A.R.E.
conferences each year to learn the latest teaching styles.

During a lesson, students jogged in place for a couple minutes, then were
asked to hold their noses. The only source of air was a straw with the
diameter of a coffee stirrer, pursed tightly between their lips. This
simulates what breathing feels like with emphysema.

"I got the point," one student said as he gave up. Another announced, "How
could my parents smoke?"

Kari, one of only three girls in the class, made it through the activity.

"You start breathing heavy, though," she said. "It's hard."

In another activity, the children sucked on Jolly Rancher candy, but were
not allowed to swallow any saliva and resulting juices for one minute.
Adams said this experiment shows how the body suffers when it cannot
perform its normal processes - the body needs to perform actions, such as
swallowing, and when these actions cannot occur people feel irritated or sick.

"This is to show you how the body craves something," he said. "When you get
to swallow, it was going to taste better, feel better. You knew when you
were going to swallow it was going to be OK."

"It's kind of like chocolate," said Pierce, a student. "Once you have it,
you can't stop wanting it."

But in addition to defining drugs and addiction, Adams spent a majority of
class time focusing on choice, consequences and goals, which he considers
to be his "personal spin" on the D.A.R.E. class.

No time is spent on drugs' street names or how they are made.

"It's more important to know the effects," Adams said, referring to how
substance abuse interrupts daily life. "It's more than just saying no. I
try to use everything I've learned, life experiences, to help me out. Goals
are one of the most important things."

Believe in yourself

"If somebody doesn't feel good about themselves they might use drugs as a
way out," Adams said on the fifth day of D.A.R.E.

For the next few classes, Adams discussed self-esteem, response styles and
pressure. The idea behind the lessons is that if children can set personal
goals and feel good about themselves, drugs won't be an option.

Adams pretended to be a student driving class members to school. He set the
scene: the students must envision themselves in a car in which its
occupants start passing around a marijuana cigarette.

"I'd stop at a gas station and call my parents to pick me up," said Josh.

"I can't tell you what to do in every situation," Adams told the children,
mentioning that peer pressure might come into play in such a situation. "I
think you're a chicken," he said to Kari. "Are you afraid of the cigarette?"

She maintained her confidence, and repeated, "You do that," to all of
Adams' friendly, teasing and pressure-filled suggestions.

But the kids' self-assurance was shaken when Adams told them to take out a
piece of paper and shut their D.A.R.E. books.

It was time for a pop quiz.

"You need to get eight questions right to go to D.A.R.E. graduation," he
told the groaning class.

But it was a fake.

"That test is not real, I just wanted to create stress," Adams said.

He told the students to tackle stress by organizing schoolwork and spending
time with friends. Drugs aren't mentioned in this portion of the lesson.

"Stress is not always bad for you," he said. "Hopefully the stress will
cause you to prepare, and do something crazy like study."

A hot topic

The sixth graders' participation is enthusiastic throughout D.A.R.E., but
it was unprecedented when Adams brought up violence and media message
techniques.

"We talk about violence in D.A.R.E. because violence is also a big problem,
usually where we have problems with drugs we have problems with violence,"
Adams said.

Violence and the media are intertwined in the minds of young people, he
said, because children see infinite numbers of advertisements, television
shows and video games depicting acts of violence. It desensitizes them, he
said.

"Sometimes kids lose track of reality; they think life's going to be like
the video game," he told the students. "But it's not like restart."

"There's this video game called Grand Theft Auto 3," said Sean, pointing
out a game in which criminals steal cars, shoot guns, pick up prostitutes
and assault women.

"It comes down to the job of your parents to supervise," Adams added.

He said the problem with some advertising, ranging from video game
advertisements to beer commercials, is that they cater to children.

"Beer commercials are targeted toward sixth graders," Adams said. "Once
somebody is 21 and allowed to use beer, they buy a product and are pretty
loyal to it. That's why you see frogs, lizards and dogs. They're trying to
influence you now."

Almost every child in the class can name a different beer commercial.

"They're not going to run an ad that says, " 'Drink our beer so you can run
your car into a telephone pole,' " Adams said. The students giggled, but
believed what he said. "They're always going to show you a positive part of
their product. And just because they're advertising a product doesn't mean
they use it."

The kids chose an advertisement in their D.A.R.E. book and deconstructed
its meaning. They took turns telling Adams the truth about the ads, and
turned the messages into public service announcements to warn people about
the products.

Their next assignment was to write their final D.A.R.E. essays and take the
post-test.

Look for the second part of this two-part series on D.A.R.E. in Tuesday's Whig.