D.A.R.E

Over the past few years, D.A.R.E seems to have become a bit of a joke, at least on the internet. Folks like to talk about how ineffective it was and how it was a waste of money. I read comments like, “D.A.R.E is what got me interested in drugs!” that people like to shout like it’s a prideful statement to make. Sometimes, these comments annoy me, but then I realize, these are the same folks who say things like, “I just watched Star Wars high and…” and they think their high gave them some greater clarity. Of course, the real reason they are saying that, is just to brag about being high.

This annoys me. Maybe, I was naive, but I found D.A.R.E to be informative. The booklet given to us was the first time I saw images of what many common drugs looked like and the officer in my class did a fantastic job at making everyone feel comfortable to ask questions. He even hosted a design contest for an anonymous box where we could ask questions or make comments, we were too afraid to raise our hand and ask.

Drugs didn’t interest me, I had already been exposed to enough PSAs and cartoons telling me not to do them. When Michelangelo says to say no to drugs, I listened. So, when D.A.R.E. came along it was just further reinforcement by a real police officer that my life could be ruined if I just wanted to “be cool” or “experiment.”

Maybe, some of the messaging with a bit overkill, but I don’t regret participating in it one bit. D.A.R.E was an useful program (unlike a lot of other ones that occurred in school) and I feel like it doesn’t deserve the hate that it gets these days.