The Curriculum

The D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education ) program is a collaborative effort by D.A.R.E. certified law enforcement officers, educators, students, parents, and the community to offer an educational program to prevent or reduce drug abuse and violence among our youth. This program was developed in 1983 as a cooperative effort by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Since 1993, the Westminster Police Department has been participating in this program, which helps students recognize and resist many of life's pressures that would influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, inhalants, or any other drugs.

D.A.R.E. is organized into lessons which are taught by a certified uniformed law enforcement officer. Each lesson is taught to the sixth grade (Carroll Co.) in the classroom during a regular school day. Some of these lessons include:

• Word Definitions
• Drug Fact Sheets
• Considering Consequences of Using and Not Using Drugs
• Saying No to various Peer Pressures (Friendly, Teasing, Heavy, and Indirect)
• Ways to Say No!! (No Thanks, Give a reason, Broken record, Walk away, Change the subject, Avoid the situation, Cold shoulder, and using Strength in numbers)
• Proper way to respond to situations (Confident - Assertive)
• Giving Compliments
• Ways to Deal with Stress!
• Resolving Disagreements
• Recognizing Media Message Techniques
• Positive Alternatives
• Be a Role Model
• Ways to recognize Gangs and Gang members
• Taking a positive stand as a D.A.R.E. Student
• and much more.....

The Focus of D.A.R.E.

• Provide accurate information about drugs and alcohol
• Teach students about decision-making skills
• Show students how to resist negative peer pressure
• Suggest alternatives
• Help build confidence and self-esteem