Pubdate: Mon, 26 Jan 2009 Source: Register Citizen (CT) Copyright: 2009 Register Citizen Contact: http://www.registercitizen.com Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/598 Author: Ronald Derosa Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/dare.htm (D.A.R.E.) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/youth.htm (Youth) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis) DARE PROGRAM RESURRECTED AT TORRINGTON MIDDLE SCHOOL TORRINGTON - For the first time in several years, students at Torrington Middle School will receive instruction from the DARE Program. The Torrington Police Department will begin teaching the Drug Abuse Resistance Education program today, at 10:30 a.m., at the Torrington Middle School. Officer Gregory Wityak, who is certified in both grammar and middle school programs, will be the instructor for the eight week duration. This is the first time in 10 years that DARE instruction will be available for middle school students, after the program was cut due to staffing issues, said Officer Richard Dowd, director of the program. DARE is funded mainly by grants and asset forfeiture money from cars or houses that are seized by police, he said. The program targets the seventh grade and is the second program available to Torrington students. The first is the grammar school program available in all public and parochial schools in the city. Topics to be taught include, "Taking Charge of Your Own Life" and "Media Influences," as well as information on the dangers of alcohol, marijuana, inhalants and cigarettes. The program is also set to include discussions on social and legal responsibility. The grammar school setting is essentially the foundation for topics such as types of substances, like alcohol or marijuana, and how they affect the body, Dowd said. In middle school, however, it is possible that students can actually be exposed to such harmful substances and extending the program into the middle school again, was vital for that very reason, Dowd said. "To me it's just as important, if not more important, to have it at the middle school than the grammar schools," Dowd said. "That's when these kids can either go down one path or another." Dowd cited an example of past students he taught in 5th grade - several years ago - whom he encountered in high school or early adulthood who had been victims of substance abuse. At that point it is "almost too far gone" to go back, he said. "If we can grab these kids now and guide them, we can prevent that stuff from happening," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Doug