D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) is substance abuse prevention education and Much More!
The D.A.R.E. core program is presented to Kindergarten through 5th grade.
D.A.R.E. was developed in 1983 as a joint effort between the Los Angeles County (Calif.) School District and the Los Angeles Police Department. In 1986, the US Congress passed the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act to promote drug abuse education and prevention programs across the country, and DARE spread rapidly, with many school districts adopting it for their students. By 1994 D.A.R.E. was the most widely used school-based drug prevention program, showing up in all 50 states in the United States and spreading to six foreign countries.
D.A.R.E uses the social influence approach to drug-use prevention. This psychosocial approach emphasizes and aims to strengthen children’s refusal skills so they can better resist social pressures to try and use drugs. It also builds general social competencies to help prevent or at least delay adolescent drug use.