West Van police ditch DARE – Report Card

West Vancouver police surprised parents and teachers last spring by quitting a popular drug-awareness program that uniformed officers had been delivering in elementary schools for more than a dozen years. 

“There is no evidence that it’s been successful in reaching its goals,” Cpl. Fred Harding told the North Shore News in explaining the decision to withdraw from the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program.

Nevertheless, West Vancouver school district is working to replace the program. Early next year, it will be training teachers to implement a replacement program, which is expected to be offered in Grades 6 and 7 after spring break, says superintendent Geoff Jopson.

DARE has been both controversial and popular for many years. It was created by DARE America but is delivered in B.C. by the RCMP and local police forces. Of B.C.’s 60 school districts, all but four offer it in at least some schools.

We’ve known for five years now that the DARE program (drug abuse resistance education, a.k.a. cops coming into classrooms saying “drugs ‘r’ bad, mmmkay?”) – our own government even said, “All of the evaluations suggested that DARE had no statistically significant long-term effect on preventing youth illicit drug use.”

Having cops teach kids about drugs is like having pharmacists teaching a defensive driving course.