Mahseredjian1

Mayda Mahseredjian
Professor Lawson
English 113A
10 December 2014
574
The Positive Effect of D.A.R.E.
Have you ever wondered why kids abuse drugs or alcohol from such a young age? Many
of us don't recognize how important this issue is. The people who have recognized this issue
created a non-profit organization named D.A.R.E. It helps out students from either completely
shutting off the use of drugs or alcohol, or finding a way out. One of its benefits includes guiding
students and teaching them on how to have self-control for future purposes. Throughout the
world kids, most importantly teenagers, suffer from depression, bullying, and many more harms
that shouldnt be any of their worries at this age. They want these problems to stop, but through
their eyes drugs and alcohol is the only answer.
As stated above it not only informs the students on the effects of these drugs, but also
shows them ways of comfort in tough times. For example, a child might have family problems
where the mother is abusing drugs and the father is in prison. This child is placed in a tough
situation therefore, he or she will want a way to release her anger; this is where the drug abuse
comes into play. D.A.R.E. helps those in need to make wiser choices and emphasizes that there is
always a way out of trouble, no matter what the case may be. No matter what century we live in,
there will always be a conflicting side. People are starting to argue that this organization is not
benefiting in any way to the children, all it does is introduce the drug which then makes the child
curious, hence the beginning stages of drug and alcohol use. "A 2009 peer-reviewed study of

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graduates from D.A.R.E's "Take Charge of Your Life" curriculum found a 3-4% increase in
alcohol and cigarette use among 11th grade students who were not using either substance by
seventh grade (at the beginning of the study) compared to those who never enrolled. In the end,
numbers shouldn't matter. Has D.A.R.E. helped a child? So why are we questioning this
program? Yes, it may interest some students because they have not heard of such substances, but
with the program D.A.R.E provides, they will be convinced to not enter that path. For instance if
a student hasn't heard of Marijuana and they started becoming curious on what it does because of
D.A.R.E., we show the effects of the drug which will then change the students mind into not
abusing it. I agree that in some cases this program is ineffective and might often make the
student curious, but that does not help us as a society. It shows how much we don't care about the
young generation. Just because a certain amount of students were not affected by this, doesn't
mean there weren't students who were affected. Have we looked at those results? There could be
many out there who were not powerful enough to live in today's world, but D.A.R.E. changed
them into the better. On the other hand, we can't ignore those students who found the program
not helpful nor interesting. Whether it is just a one-time use or non-stop addiction, we need to
create a path to guide the young generation into becoming a better individual.

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Works Cited
Zili Sloboda, ScD, et al., "The Adolescent Substance Abuse Prevention Study: A Randomized
Field Trial of a Universal Substance Abuse Prevention Program," Drug and Alcohol
Dependence, Jan. 21, 2009. November 12, 2014.