DARE program could return to local area in 2022

DARE logos painted on the side of the former middle school and at the Grand Coulee Police Station may be relevant again with the return of the program aimed at teaching youth to make smart decisions regarding drug use.

A Grand Coulee police officer persuaded the city council last week to pay for his training.

"I believe the DARE program would not only be a great educational tool, but also a great way to get involved in the community," Officer Blake Martin told the council.

The program, whose name stands for Drug Abuse Resistance Education, has a new curriculum since when many of us remember it from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s. That old program was shown to be ineffective at reducing drug and alcohol use among America's youth. 

A 2014 article on http://www.scientificamerican.com titled "The New D.A.R.E. Program – This One Works" explains that the old version of DARE, running from 1983 to 2009, "despite being the nation's most popular substance-abuse prevention program... did not make you less likely to become a drug addict or even to refuse that first beer from your friends. ...  But over the past few years prevention scientists have helped D.A.R.E. America, the nonprofit organization that administers the program, replaced the old curriculum with a course based on a few concepts that should make the training more effective for today's students ... replacing long, drug-fact laden lectures with interactive lessons that present stories meant to help kids make smart decisions." 

The new program "has reduced substance abuse and maintained antidrug attitudes over time among students in early trials - an achievement that largely eluded the former iteration of the program," the article states.

At Grand Coulee's Dec. 21 council meeting, Officer Martin, who has been with the department since September of 2020, asked the city to pay for him to attend a two-week DARE training for police officers in Kennewick in the summer of 2022.

The $500 registration fee and $105-a-night lodging costs could possibly be paid for with Grant County Proposition 1 money, brought in by sales tax that cities receive for law enforcement expenses.

Martin read from a slideshow presentation during the meeting.

"Officers live and work in the community we serve. I believe it's important for officers to be involved and understand what is going on within the community. Community outreach can be a very powerful tool in a small community such as ours, and DARE can provide us with that opportunity. ...  I believe we need to implement the DARE program to educate kids and individuals about the side effects and harm drug use can cause."

Martin said that Grand Coulee Dam School District Superintendent Paul Turner and his staff support the idea of bringing the DARE program back. 

The school board has not yet discussed the program.

"I understand that the school is located in a different city ... ," Martin said. "However, given the proximity of the towns/cities to one another, more often than not, we share some similar issues. I believe this program would be effective in building public trust not just for Grand Coulee, but the entire area and community." 

Martin, himself, said he found the program to be "fantastic," when he was in the fifth grade in Mill Creek.

Councilmember Tom Poplawski said he used to teach DARE and found it to be a "very worthwhile program."

The other council members agreed and approved to have Martin take the training.