D- I won’t do drugs, A- won’t have an attitude, R- I will respect myself, E- I will educate me.  Sound familiar?  Most likely. 

The 5th grade Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program, which is a police officer-led series of lessons that teach peer pressure, drug and violence resistance, was founded in Los Angeles in 1983.

Since its implementation, the program has spread to 75 percent of our nation’s schools and into 43 nations around the world.  This means 10 millions students and families around the world have been impacted by the DARE program.

Unfortunatly, the program may be brought to a halt due to budget cuts in Orange County, Florida.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said he would try to maintain his budget, but the first thing to be removed would be the DARE program.

Murders have dropped 41 percent over the last two years, which could be a result of DARE as it is designed to keep kids out of trouble.

Orange County Mayor Rich Crotty said, “All the indications is that crime is down, the jail population is down, and I think that there’s a propensity to say that when crime is down we need more money to keep it and when crime is up we need more money to reduce it.”

Crotty has suggested a seven percent reduction in spending for agencies, but only five percent of expenditures can be reduced. 

If the program disappears, student resource officers may also fade away since they’re funded by the DARE program. 

A further decline in the economy will be the catalyst to discontinuing the DARE program.

Lafayette students and staff weigh in on the situation.

“I believe the government needs to look at all potential cuts in these tough economic times.  However, these cuts to the sheriff’s department will have a direct impact on the education and safety of children, so these should be some of the last cuts to be implemented.  I hope they can save the DARE program and school resource officers so students continue to feel safe in school and learn to say no to drugs.” -Driver Ed teacher Matt Landwehr

“Why are we continually cutting funds that help teach kids and protect our citizens!?  Surely there are unnecessary position and/or programs that could be cut or modified without having such a detrimental effect on society.” -French teacher Gina Luerding-Looten

“I think that DARE is important and that it shouldn’t be removed.  Even if only one kid gets helped by it, then it’s still worth while, just so that kid can be saved from all the pain that comes along with drugs.”   -Emily Miintz, 12

“I think it’s a bad economy right now and I understand that they want to save money but they should also think about those kids’ futures.  There are other ways to educate kids about drugs like in health class but only DARE really helps focus in on the problem in a way that helps kids understand how stupid drugs are and how much they can affect them.  I know they want to save money but they should spend the extra money knowing that it is helping prevent kids from getting involved with drugs.”    -Katie Czolgosz, 10

“I believe that cuts should not take place because the DARE program helps children understand that drugs can damage them and without the program they will be more likely to try them.  To keep crime rates down we need to inform children of the dangers in the world.”     -Nathan Ashley, 11