taught to reject drugs, booze,cigs

Michael Becker

News Editor michacl@nsnews.com

CONSTABLE Harry McNeil is the quintessen- tial good cop.

He's got an easy, likeable way about him and comes across as noth- ing bur honest. The West Vancouver police officer is the perfect D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) instructor. The kids like him.

The D.A.R.E. program began in the Los Angeles Unified School District in 1983 as a partnership between the school district and the L.A. Police Deparcment. In the U.S., approximately 75% of school districts support it as a standard drug education program. It is taught in 47 countries throughout the world.

The program teaches students how to recognize and resist peer pressure to try illegal drugs, alcohol and tobacco. There are no grey areas: the message is zero tolerance regarding the use of any of the sub- stances,

The D.A.RLE. curriculum was designed by academics to be taught by police officers. Before entering the D.A.RE. pro- gram, officers take 80 hours of special training in areas includ- ing child development, classroom management, teaching tech- niques and communication skills. An additional 40 hours of training is required for a D.A.RLE. officer to teach the junior high curriculum and another 40 hours are needed to teach the senior high curriculum.

The core curriculum targets children in grades 5 and 6. One lesson a week is taught over a period of 17 wecks.

D.A.RE. came to West Vancouver school district in 1995. It’s an expensive program, taking somewhere in the neighbor- hood of $300,000 a year from the $5.5 million West Vancouver Police budget. The police like ic and the community seems to support it. The West Vancouver Foundation spons »s D.A.R.E. and in. 1996 raised $25,000 for the program at a gala event.

MeNeil, and fellow D.A.R.E, officers Const. [ar Craib and Const. Rick Catlin dedicate 28 hours a week to the school pro- gram. Sgt. Jim Almas puts in approximately nwo hours a week.

As of this year, Const. Paul Skelton has been teuching the program three hours a week at North Vancouver's Norgate community school. Many of the school’s students come from the Squamish Nation reserve. For the rest of North Vancouver's schools, the drug awareness program of choice is the RCMIP's PACE (Police Assisting Community Education) program.

PACE is a drug education package for grades 5 through 9, and is meant to foster the relationship between the police and young people within the community. It supplements other class- room activity focused on drug prevention.

The popular D.A.R.E. program is not without controversy. Studies abound supporting its efficacy. Early D.A.R.E. evalua- tions (1987-1989) in the U.S. were generally favorable, show - ing decreased alcohol, tobacce and other drug use, an increased resistance to drug use and an increase in self-esteem.

But over recent years questions and criticisms have surfaced about the merits of D.A.RE.

AUS, Justice Department-sponsored study by the Research Triangle Institute notes D.A.R.E. has a “limited to essentially nonexistent effece on drug use.”

NEWS photo Terry Peters

WEST Vancouver Police Const. Marry McNeil (above) addresses a D.A.R.E. class at St. Anthony’s school. Caroline Arbuckle (photo right) raises her hand at Caulfeitd elementary to answer a question about the D.A.R.E. program.

The US. General Accounting Office reports, “There is little evidence so far that D.A.R.E. and other ‘resis- tance training’ programs have reduced the use of drugs by adolescents.”

West Vancouver stand by the anecdotal evi- dence, convinced that D.A.R.E. is a positive force in the community,

McNeil said that the police department is looking — at D.A.R.E. programs in other jurisdictions that have been able to quantify the success of DARE.

“We'll be picking one this summer and we'll be putting it into effect this school vear to measure the success rate of the program — nor only by smiles, we can also take a look at num- bers. Numbers seem to carry weight,” he said.

It’s a Friday morning in May. McNeil walks into the classroom at St. Anthony's

olic private school on Keith Road. Fourteen Grade 7 students are gathered in a class- room ready for the second one-hour D.A.R.E. lesson of the

Decorative native dream catchers hang from the ceiling. On one wall there’s a poster of John Paul IP in prayer. A D E poster brightens a door. “D.A.R.E. to lead,” it says. It shows some penguins on an ice float. One jumps off, ahead of the

ack. P The kids are neat and polite. The class stands and says good morning to MeNcil as he joins them.

Mother questions program

BOWEN Island resident Deborah Kirby’s daughter participated in the D.A.RE. pro . Her child’s experi- ence brought her to question the effort: On Wednesday, May 13 (1998) my daughter graduated from the D.A.RE. Program. :

Just a few weeks earlier my daughter was excited when she told me that her teacher would be choosing the people who would read their D.A.RE. essa the assembly, She later told me hers had been selected.

She was very proud. The day before the ceremony, she practiced in front of the principal. This morning, she invited me to hear her read. Her name was on the pro-

m distributed at the door.

Shortly before the ceremony began my daughter was informed by the D.A.RE. constable that she could not read her

» It was unacceptable; it might lead to nderstanding. No. staff intervened. We expected some acknowledgment, It

did not come. We listened to 13 class- mates read their paeans celebrating DARE.

My daughter wrote in brief, Grade 5 hyperbole that D.A.R.E. was a good pro- gram. She also wrote that marijuana has positive in society, that it is used to treat glaucoma, and ¢ase the g chemo and AIDS patients. She actually juxtaposed the words “wonderful” and “drug.”

For her di nto think beyond mere

What a great lesson. fs the D.A.RLE. program a good one? On the surface it seems to be, we all want our children to be able to resist peer pres- sure, to have a better understanding of the sof drugs, alcohol and tobacco and tu meet and interact with police officers in a positive way. But there are serious flaws

suffering of

in this program.

It is predicated on the assumption that children cannot reason. Ir dictates intor- mation and does not allow for al dis- cussion. The program is delivered by police to students with no input from teachers, no assessment of student work, no evaluation of teaching ability.

It was developed and is wholly con- trolled by a business enterprise worth close to $750,000,000 U.S. based in Los Angeles. No alterations to fit the n of a school, district, community are permit- ted without authorization from head office.

The D.A.RCE. Program costs the West Vancouver taxpayer somewhere in’ the order of $300,000 a vear. 1 suggest this sun would go a long way towards devel- oping a program tailor-made for our schools — one that would reflect our val- ues and mores and, most importantly, one that begins with the premise that our chil- dren are thinking people.

“pain

Sunday, August 16, 1998 — North Shore News - 3

olerance

“What day ts it today?” he asks, “Its DAR.

Day!" they shout back fervently.

And then it’s D.A.R.E. box time. MeNeil responds to questions left by the children. He uses the D.A.R.E. session to talk about more than sub- stance abuse. He does not shy away from breader is F crime and punishment — law, ms, the role of police in the community.

A note from the box: “What's the difference between a policeman in the U.S. and in Canada?”

McNeil tells them it’s more con- servative in Canada and that there is more violence and poverty to con- tend with in the States. “In Canada we don’t have ghettos. We have street peaple here but street people choose to be street people. With drug abuse (in Canada) a lot of kids are wondering what it’s all about.

“They're not using drugs to to escape life in a ghetto where life is ceally crummy. Life is pretty goud

- here in West Vancouver.” he class watches a D.A.RE. video. They see a cartoon character with a joint in hand and a goofy look on his face standing in the middle of traffic.

Jose and Sandy are accosted by a guy who offers crack, cocaine, speed, acid, crystal and crank. The cartoon druggies have green skin and fad teeth.

MeNcil tells the kids that taarijuana is a “gateway”

' drug. “If you were ro try it

. you might like it, but it isn’t worth the gamble There is No good ume to try mari- juana,” McNeil says.

The constable reviews some homework. McNeil asks one boy if he can talk about the possible risk of long-term tobacco use.

He asks another what the possible risk might be of using marijuana once. The boy responds, saying he could be expelled from school and find trouble with © his parents and the police.

Another is asked about the possible risk of using cocaine. The child answers

* quickly: paranoia.

While zero tolerance

remains the wperative con- . = cept, McNeil acknowledges NEWS photo Mike Wekefleld = thar some children will come into class with different information. What if some child had heard that marijuana has some beneficial uses for glaucoma and pain relief’ How would he address such thinking?

Said McNeil: “We have to recognize that it is being used in some places for cases where people have terminal cancer. In a Grade 5 class we're not there to discuss terminal cancer. There are synthetic drugs that are on the market that will give the same relief and they don’t have the side effects that marijuana has, like

ty

See Program page &

) Samat ger a people. with: glaucoma’ t pressure. behind the, ¢ Me ae a -_ Drugs and alcoh ‘ul

“a drag that. can dam

5. Mati