D.A.R.E Funding

Studies show that there has been steady increase in drug and alcohol use and the acceptance of drugs is also becoming more and more common. There has also been a major increase in violence, especially among juveniles. Lately, Boston has been on the news numerous times with more violent crimes and has been coming down under public scrutiny for the rapid increasing rate.

Due to this, the program D.A.R.E was founded in 1983 in order to provide kids with the information and skills on how to live a drug free and violence free lives. D.A.R.E, Drug Abuse Resistance Education, is a collaboration between local law enforcement and schools which teaches students about the personal and social consequence about substance abuse and violence. Since 1983, the program has had multiple revisions as research has discovered increased knowledge of effective substance abuse prevention. Millions of children in the U.S. in more than 300,000 classrooms have experienced the D.A.R.E program. There are also 43 other countries who are involved with the D.A.R.E program. More than 50,000 law enforcement officers are trained and certified to teach in the program.



Although D.A.R.E has helped millions of young children, the program is not funded by the government. The material and the instructors training is provided by D.A.R.E America, which is a non-profit organization. Less than one percent of D.A.R.E America's budget comes from federal sources. There are also many grants that are used to fund the program, Local Law Enforcement Block Grant Money is the most popular one. Another source of funds is Safe and Drug Free Schools. The D.A.R.E website suggests that you "can't find grant funds for D.A.R.E, find them for something else and then maybe money in your regular budget will free up." Schools are struggling so much that this statement seems almost impossible. Sports programs, music, and art programs are all being cut and schools are still struggling to cover their expenses.



I understand that the government is struggling right now and is handing out billions of dollars to businesses but I believe that the D.A.R.E program should be funded by the government. States across the country are having to cut the program. New York, Illinois, Washington, and numerous other states have had to cut the programs. I remember going through the program in 5th grade and the officer, Officer Daugherty, was in charge of our cities program had a major effect on so many kids lives. She knew each one of our names and if she ran into us out in the neighborhood years down the road doing something wrong, you got such a motherly speech from her, that showed she genuinely cared. Who knows how many lives she changed and had an effect on and I'm sure kids in all different states each had their own Officer Daugherty that changed their lives and to see the program end after 26 years because of a bad economy is not a good enough excuse for me, especially since it is effective.



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