Pubdate: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 Source: Arizona Daily Sun (AZ) Copyright: 2005 Arizona Daily Sun Contact: http://www.azdailysun.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1906 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) DRUG PREVENTION, COMMUNICATION EMPHASIZED Sgt. Gerry Blair of the Flagstaff Police Department, who supervises Drug Awareness & Resistance Education officers, said the police department continues to support prevention efforts. "Chief McCann has a very strong policy on early prevention education," Blair said. "And he believes you can't fight the drug problem strictly with interdiction and arrests." "The hope is to save them from even getting involved in a drug-use lifestyle," Blair said. The department's two DARE officers have been teaching the curriculum to every student in the Flagstaff Unified School District on a yearly basis for the last 10 years, reaching "thousands" of children. Blair said. "Does this mean that if children go through DARE that they'll never use drugs?" Blair asked. "Unfortunately, it does not. If we could inoculate a child so that they would never use drugs, we would certainly do that." But it cannot be done. "So all we can do is talk to children about the evils of drugs, talk to them about lifestyles and picking friends that will help them lead drug-free lives," Blair said. "And hopefully the tools we give them they will use to live drug-free and healthy lives." The message to the children is consistent. "It's a lot easier to stay off of drugs than it is to get off of drugs," Blair said. Mount Elden Middle School has two drug-use prevention programs, including DARE. What is emphasized at MEMS is communication. Students are able to talk to teachers about anything. "Middle school can be a trying time and we let them know they can talk with teachers or administrators," MEMS Assistant Principal Mark Williams said. There are about 900 students at MEMS and the students are broken into teams of about 115 students. Those students have the same four core teachers. Those teachers are able to keep tabs on the students and help them when needed. Williams said the students at MEMS are good kids and what happened is an exception to the rule. "I'm not naively saying there are no drugs," Williams said. It's just one event that is overshadowing the good things happening at the school, he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek