DARES TO BE DIFFERENT

D.A.R.E is a program where they teach young people like me how to say no to
peer pressure.

D.A.R.E. tries to teach kids to know they have a choice and to trust
themselves and their decisions. It is a wonderful program. I have learned a
lot in a short and well spent five months.

D.A.R.E is a program that is having a big impact on the kid drug economy. I
would like to see it keep going because young people should not take drugs.
I believe people also should know about some of the wonderful things that
supposedly bad drugs can do.

For an example let's take a look at marijuana. D.A.R.E. teaches us that a
little alcohol won't hurt you, as long as you don't abuse it. It is the same
for marijuana. Marijuana is not a bad drug as long as you don't use it
abusively or as a kid. It also has a number of helpful uses. Doctors
prescribe it to people with A.I.D.S and cancer to help stimulate their
hunger and to reduce pain and nausea, and to people with glaucoma to reduce
the pressure behind the eye.

Drugs and alcohol use are not easy to understand. Alcohol is a drug that can
damage your liver, but is legal and accepted in our society. Marijuana is an
illegal drug, but has many good uses.

Eleanor Smith, 10 Division 3, Bowen Island Community School

Checked-by: Rolf Ernst