D.A.R.E. to tell the truth?

A few weeks ago I went to Lizzy's D.A.R.E graduation. For those without kids, D.A.R.E. is Drugs Abuse Resistance Education. It's a program, done in the schools by the local police, to make children aware of drugs. Unlike the forced, clinical drug education, that we got when we were in school, the program is a voluntary program for fifth graders.

I really love the concept and think the program is needed, especially the work they do to teach the children about resisting peer pressure.

So what are my issues with the program?

My first issue with the program is that it focuses on marijuana and cigarettes. They do delve into alcohol, cocaine and heroine but no crack, no crystal meth, no prescription drugs, etc. My second issue with the program is that they teach the children to ostracize, not help people who have addictions, even alcohol or tobacco. My last and probably biggest issue is the fact, I kept hearing that marijuana kills. It not only came up in some of the skits that the children wrote but also when the police officer was speaking. Scare tactics are fine for short term lessons but to teach children valuable life lessons and then mix in lies is detrimental.

As a child, my parents never really gave me, “The Drug Talk.”. In Phys-ed we learned that drugs would kill you and that was enough until... it wasn't. We saw friends, relatives and other people that took drugs and lived. We watched drugs laid out on tables at parties quickly disappear and no one taking them went insane or died in front of us, in fact... they were enjoying them. The lessons of doom and gloom that scared us, liberated us. If some of what they told us was lies, couldn't the rest also be lies? Some of us experimented and you know what? We didn't die. We progressed and tried more and harder drugs. Not because the earlier drugs were gateways. The gateway was seeking the truth mixed with a dash of rebelliousness cooked in a peer pressure cooker. Through hazed thoughts, we needed to challenge what we were told. We needed to challenge authority. We needed to challenge everything... until we shouldn't have.

We learned that maybe the lies weren't malevolent... just ignorant. In time we found the truth we were looking for. A truth that forced some of us to quit and left others realizing they were unable to. Looking back at the lives that were destroyed and deaths associated with drugs, it's time to shut the gateway and speak honestly and openly with our children. Lies stoke the fires of curiosity in an intelligent mind. Minds that should not be or get wasted.