The D.A.R.E. program was started by a group of Los Angeles police officers and school teachers that were concerned because kids were taking drugs. These drugs were destroying kids’ lives. The police officers and schoolteachers joined forces and launched D.A.R.E. to teach kids about the dangers of drugs and violence, and how to protect themselves from it.

The police wanted to steer kids away from dangerous drugs and help them make smart choices, like playing sports and starting hobbies instead of using drugs and hanging out on the streets.

D.A.R.E. was born in Los Angeles, California in 1983 and now is taught in all 50 states in the U.S., as well as in 53 countries. All in all, the D.A.R.E. program will reach 50 million children around the world this year alone.

D.A.R.E. is the largest school based drug abuse and violence reduction program in the world today. It offers a variety of learning activities structured for elementary and middle school students. The curriculum emphasizes the skills necessary to resist the temptations of drugs and alcohol, the avoidance of violence and enhances the student's ability to solve problems. D.A.R.E. assists youngsters to lead healthy lifestyles and enhances independent growth in spite of negative peer pressures and adverse environments.

DARE Officer Janice Cunningham    

Phone: (508) 378-7223 

Confidential line: (508) 378-8858

Massachusetts D.A.R.E. Officers' Association

http://www.massdare.org

D.A.R.E. Massachusetts - http://www.darema.org/

D.A.R.E. Kids link

Officer Janice A. Cunningham was awarded the 2002 DARE Officer of the Year award by Cruising New England Magazine!

Congratulations to Jan for all her hard work and dedication to the job!

Above: Plaque awarded to DARE Officer Jan Cunningham

D.A.R.E. Curriculum

Part of the reason D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) works so well is because it is a collaborative effort between our police department, our school, parents, and community leaders. D.A.R.E. works because it surrounds children with support and encouragement from all sides.

D.A.R.E. teaches kids how to recognize and resist the direct and subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and other drugs. And since between 70% and 90% of all crime is drug related, it is absolutely vital that we reach the children of America before it is too late.

The D.A.R.E. program is introduced to the children in the elementary school.  A specially trained officer comes into your school one day a week for seventeen weeks and teaches the children. And, to make it easy on you, we've designed the D.A.R.E. curriculum to integrate easily into your other lessons. Student participation in the D.A.R.E. program may be incorporated as an integral part of the school's curriculum in health, science, social studies, language arts, or other subjects. It is important that you, as the classroom teacher, maintain a supportive role in classroom management while the officer is teaching. And, finally, you should incorporate D.A.R.E. program participation by students as a fundamental part of your students' final evaluation