Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 102 Part 2.djvu/634

 102 STAT. 1638

PUBLIC LAW 100-432—SEPT. 15, 1988

Public Law 100-432 100th Congress Joint Resolution Sept. 15, 1988 [S.J. Res. 295]

To provide for the designation of September 15, 1988, as "National D.A.R.E. Day".

Whereas D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is a semester long program which teaches fifth and sixth grade children how to resist pressure to experiment with drugs and alcohol; Whereas the D.A.R.E. program is also provided to kindergarten and junior high school students and their parents; Whereas D.A.R.E. targets children when they are most vulnerable to tremendous peer pressure to try drugs or alcohol and teaches the skills to make positive decisions and resist pressure to participate in negative behaviors; Whereas more than 495 communities in 34 States now teach the D.A.R.E. program in their local schools, and a pilot program has been implemented for use internationaly in the Department of Defense Dependent Schools; Whereas almost 1.5 million students have been reached through D.A.R.E.; Whereas because school children are frequently much more sophisticated about substance abuse than are classroom teachers, the D.A.R.E. program is taught by veteran police officers with direct experience with ruined lives and crimes caused by substance abuse; Whereas each police officer teaching the D.A.R.E. program completes an 80-hour training course including instruction in teaching techniques, officer-school relationships, development of self-esteem, child development, and communication skills; Whereas the D.A.R.E. curriculum, developed by the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles Unified School District helps students undet-stand self-image, recognize stress and manage it without taking drugs, analyze and resist media presentations about alcohol and drugs, evaluate risk-taking behavior, resist gang pressure, apply decision making skills, and evaluate the consequences of the choices available to them; Whereas independent research shows that the D.A.R.E. program has exceeded its goal of helping students combat peer pressure to use drugs and alcohol, and it has also contributed to improved study habits and grades, decreased vandalism and gang activity, and has generated greater respect for police officers; and Whereas the D.A.R.E. program has achieved outstanding success teaching positive and effective approaches to what is one of the most difficult problems facing our young people today, drug abuse: Now, therefore, be it

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