Dare Program

The Williams County Sheriff's Office is aggressively fighting the war on drugs.  Many of the individuals involved with drugs are minors.  Nearly one hundred of those arrested on drug charges each year are high school or middle school students.  Those offenders use and trace pills, marijuana, cocaine, and alcohol openly, apparently unaware of the physical or legal consequence.

The Williams County Board of Education and the Williams County Sheriff's Office see D.A.R.E. as their most effective weapon in the war against drugs.  Through D.A.R.E., pre-teens learn how to make decisions, how to combat the pressures of the media and their peers, and other drugs.  D.A.R.E. reaches young people before they become involved with chemical substance.

Traditional drug abuse programs dwell on the harmful effects of drugs.  D.A.R.E., however helps students recognize and resist the many subtle pressures that influence them to experiment with alcohol and other drugs.  The concepts and objectives of the D.A.R.E. program reinforce the elementary school curriculum for health education and language arts.  Program strategies focus on feelings and communication skills, decision making, and positive alternatives to drug abuse.

D.A.R.E. is designed for use in elementary schools, with emphasis in fifth or sixth grade and shorter sessions in kindergarten through fourth grade.  The D.A.R.E. curriculum was developed by educators to be taught by uniformed police officers.  In the classrooms where students often have more sophisticated knowledge of drug use than their teachers, the police officers' street experience lends credibility to the message.

Officers selected for the D.A.R.E. program are talented in communications and public relations.  Officers use a variety of activity oriented techniques to involve students in group discussions and role playing exercises.  D.A.R.E. officers are also available for meetings with adult organizations to answer questions about D.A.R.E. and offer information on intervention and assistance.

Drug use is not confined to a particular population group or economic levels in the society; it affects our entire nation.  Though drug use is often considered a big-city phenomenon, nearly as many rural youth (32 compared to 39 percent) have used drugs by the time they graduate from high school.

Middle and elementary schools as well as high schools are experiencing serious problems with drugs.  Surveys of students have indicated that pressure to use illegal substances begins around the fourth grade, and by age 13, 30 percent of boys and 22 percent of girls have begun to drink alcohol.  Tobacco use also tends to begin by the fourth grade.

Between fourth and sixth grade, the number of children experimenting with alcohol, usually beer and wine coolers, increases from 6 percent to 17 percent; nearly 2 percent of sixth graders have experimented with marijuana already.  Five percent of America's junior high students (grade 7-9) are daily tobacco users.

By high school graduation, 1/4 of American students are frequent users of illegal drugs, 2/3's are frequent users of alcohol, and 1/5 (19%) are daily tobacco users.  Over 50% have used marijuana; over 10% hallucinogens, such as LSD and PCP; and 90% have used alcohol beverages.

In grades K-2 the D.A.R.E. officer conducts four 20-30 minute sessions on:

In grades 3-4, five lessons are taught:

For grades 5-6, seventeen 45-60 minute sessions are conducted: