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section seven
steps citizens have taken
and are taking
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Here are some productive things that concerned parents and citizens
can do to abate the spread of D.A.R.E.:
- Spread the truth about D.A.R.E.. Post references to this web site
on your regular discussion groups, and encourage others to visit
this site. Distribute photocopies of articles and studies.
- Read the materials. Don't rely on ours, D.A.R.E.'s, or anybody
else's description of the curriculum. Get the Officers Training
Manual and read what they are instructed to teach. (The student
workbook is NOT representative of the curriculum...it is highly
sanitized.)
- Look at the video, "The Land of Decisions and Choices."
Ask whether it accurately and realistically reflects the sorts
of temptations children must resist in the real world. Consider
whether its depiction of parents and adults is fair, and whether
its depiction of drug and drug users is accurate.
- Insist that the "affirmative consent" rule be observed,
that is, that no children may be included in D.A.R.E. whose parents have
not affirmatively and specifically consented.
- Attend a municipal or school budget hearing. Find out how
much money your school system is spending on D.A.R.E., and demand
that the benefits justify the costs. Obtain an accounting of local
D.A.R.E. income and expenses.
- Educate your school board. Make photocopies of newspaper and
magazine articles critical of D.A.R.E. and distribute them liberally.
- Educate your local media. Urge newspapers, TV, radio and tabloid
weeklies to make an honest appraisal of the D.A.R.E. program, its
worth, efficacy and cost.
- Write your U.S. Representative and Senators. Ask why so much
money is being poured into D.A.R.E., in the absence of proof that
it works. Request that he or she take a critical look at the program.
Their addresses:
The Honorable (your Senator) The Honorable (your Representative)
United States Senate House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510 Washington, D.C. 20515
Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121
- Write to state officials, including your state representative
and senator, as well as education officials, raising serious questions
about the program.
- Talk to teenagers who went through D.A.R.E. as fifth graders, find
out what, if any, impact, it had on them.
- Educate your children about the real dangers of drugs, and
do not rely on indoctrination by the state to take the place of
parental control and influence.
forward to section eight:
related links and resources
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